"Boxer Rebellion Question, Please" Topic

So, the Chinese Christians are generally given rather short shrift in most writings on the Legations. However, it seems they were housed across the canal from the British Legation. Since there were an estimated 2,800 of them, I figure they were quite an impediment for any attacking Boxer forces. Which leads me to think they were a reasonably formidable barrier 'protecting' the British legation, at least on that side.

Does anyone have any documented information about these folks and there impact on the siege?

Yes, they lived near starvation, no Europeans tracked there casualties apparently, they were put to work at times, and lived in crowded conditions – that seems to be the extent of the information generally provided. I'm looking for more than that.

Thanks!

Based on Methodist writings on the rebellion and the later warlord years, most of the refugees were women, children and elderly.
You can find the writings on the Internet with a lot of research.
So the number of fighting age Chinese would be small.

There is mention in a number of memoirs that coolies were used in considerable force throughout the siege for building/rebuilding defenses and numbers of them were killed. I believe that it was even mentioned that without their help, that all would have been lost so still very important for their work on the defenses.

Cloudy and RudyNelson have summed the situation up nicely for the legations.

There is another side to the siege which is sadly neglected, that of the Siege of the Northern Cathedral. Here the Chinese Christians did play an active fighting role.

There were also instances of them fighting the Boxers in the rest of the country away from Peking. Some were very highly organised, mainly by Catholic priests, into effective fighting forces.

I can post fuller notes if they would be of any interest.

Just looked at photos on the internet about Missionaries in the Chinese Boxer Rebellion. I actually found a few new ones that I had not seen before.
One was of an armed Catholic priest holding a unit flag that looked to be similar to the yellow and white Papal flag. One either side of him were two armed Chinese Soldiers. The men appeared to be uniformed but I could not tell the colors. The trousers looked to be white. The shirt was very dark. They did not wear headgear, nor did the central officer. They had crossed bandoleers. Very interesting in my opinion.

My quest is a challenging one but I appreciate any new information that comes to light. Any link to the pictures, Rudy?

I just did a search and scrolled through the images rather than links. It is faster. Chinese Christians Boxer Rebellion May have been the search parameters. I tried several including Methodist Missionaries Boxer Rebellions.
Plenty of photos of Boxers being beheaded.
I found artwork interesting too. In scenes of all countries being noted, the target group for the illustration was center and others were supporting. The characterization of natural foes was also clear. British and French or the Japanese view of Russians.