Boxer members burned churches and slaughtered Christians in many places in the north, and the situation became more and more serious. 1900 On May 28th, a multinational joint army headed by Britain, France, Germany, Russia, the United States, Japan, Italy and Austria-Hungary launched an armed war of aggression against the Qing Dynasty in the name of suppressing the Boxer Rebellion, that is, "Eight-Nation Alliance's war of aggression against China". The result of this war must be clear to everyone in China. After the defeat of the Qing dynasty, it was forced to sign the "Xin Chou Treaty" which humiliated the country.
The most important item in the Xin Chou Treaty is "450 million taels of silver were paid to all countries in 39 years, with an annual interest rate of 4%, and the total principal and interest was 980 million taels", which is called "boxer indemnity" in history. At that time, the population of China was about 450 million, so Eight-Nation Alliance agreed on such an extremely insulting astronomical figure that every China citizen could get a silver or two as compensation. Because Eight-Nation Alliance believed that the trigger of this war was the ordinary people (Boxer Rebellion) in China.
The "boxer indemnity" is not evenly distributed among countries, but is distributed according to the losses suffered by countries in the Boxer Rebellion and their contribution to Eight-Nation Alliance's war of aggression against China. According to the provisions of the Xin Chou Treaty, Russia received more than1.300 million yuan in compensation, accounting for 29% of the total compensation. Followed by Germany, because its minister Cleander was killed in the Boxer Rebellion, he received more than 90 million yuan in compensation, accounting for 20% of the total compensation. The detailed proportion of compensation received by each country can be seen in the above figure.
The war is over and reparations are being made. So, Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China and a series of events in boxer indemnity ended like this? It's not over yet!
Because the amount of "boxer indemnity" far exceeded the actual losses suffered by the countries that invaded China at that time. Therefore, different countries have different opinions on the issue of reparations in China. 1at the end of 904, when Liang Cheng, the Qing Dynasty's envoy to the United States, discussed with US Secretary of State john hay whether to use gold or silver for reparations, john hay privately revealed: "There were too many boxer indemnity before." In fact, this also represents the real thoughts of many Americans at that time. Upon receiving this important message, Liang Cheng immediately realized that there seemed to be a lot of room for manoeuvre in the issue of compensation. As a result, he began to lobby around in the US Congress and members. Some famous American people, such as Edmund James, president of the University of Illinois, and Ming Enpu, a missionary, also proposed to the then US President theodore roosevelt that part of boxer indemnity should be returned to China. The refunded amount can be used to set up schools in China, and special scholarships can also be set up to help China students studying in the United States.
In the end, the United States only left the "real compensation" part of $2 million, and returned all the remaining paid reparations, giving up the remaining unpaid reparations. The United States asked the Qing government to use the returned compensation for the education expenses of China students studying in the United States.
1June, 909, the Qing government established the Museum of Tourism Beauty, and included the Tsinghua campus, the Royal Garden, in the Academic Affairs Office as the building of the Museum of Tourism Beauty, which was the initial prototype of Tsinghua University. From 1909 to 19 1 1, the Travel Aesthetics Department sent three batches of 180 students to study in the United States, including Hu Shi, Zhu Kezhen, Hu and other famous figures in China's modern history.
A tragic disaster brought to the people of China actually made Tsinghua, a top university in China, really live up to the old saying, "Misfortune depends on it, and misfortune lies in it.".
Finally, why do Americans choose to help China train foreign students instead of real money? In fact, this is determined by American gospel values. For Americans, exporting their values to other countries is far more important than these real money. Edmund James, the above-mentioned president of the University of Illinois, said in a memorandum to President Roosevelt: "Which country can educate the young people of China well, and which country can benefit the most from its spiritual and commercial influence because of its own efforts. It is more reliable for business to follow spiritual domination than to follow military flags. "