Yangzhou riot against the China Inland Mission (1868)

The Yangzhou riot of August 22–23, 1868, was a brief crisis in Anglo-Chinese relations during the late Qing dynasty. It involved an angry crowd of Chinese, estimated at eight to ten thousand, who assaulted the premises of the British China Inland Mission in Yangzhou by looting, burning, and attacking the missionaries led by Hudson Taylor.

Episodes

Background and detail

Background. The crisis was fomented by the gentry of Yangzhou who opposed the presence of foreign Christian missionaries in the city, who claimed that they were legally residing under the provisions of the Convention of Peking. Threats against the missionaries were circulated by large character posters placed around the city.

Social Context. In regard to riots in China, the long-standing enmity of the literati of China to all things foreign must be remembered as well as the fact that the Chinese people were at that period "in the point of superstition very much where we were in the sixteenth century." Should the literati stir up the passions of the people by playing upon their superstitious fears, few officials had the moral courage as well as the ability to keep the peace for long.

Aftermath. The British press reacted critically of the missionaries working in China and blamed them for causing a crisis in Sino-British relations. Maria Taylor was among those who defended the actions of the China Inland Mission in the wake of the riot.

People involved

Sources

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