Instalment 23 (1900)

Scene 1: At the Palace

Cixi is watching a presentation of Boxer “troops”: she has the opera-like performance broken off, but watches the Qigong presentation until the end. Then she has silver distributed, praises the boxers for their courage and wants to unite with the Boxers against the foreign powers. The conservative official Gangyi is supposed to organise the Boxer troops and lead them to rebellion. Ronglu wants to raise objections, but Cixi says that she is well aware that the entire presentation was staged. However, she believes that they could profit from the Boxer’s popularity.

Scene 2: At the Palace; Yikuang receives the foreign ambassadors

The ambassadors present the resolution of the foreign powers regarding the Boxer crisis to the Qing Prince Yikuang. The assassination of the German ambassador to China, von Ketteler, has resulted in a coalition of the foreign powers who present the following demands to the Qing government:

• The emperor has to be released
• The Boxers are to be suppressed; the foreign powers offer their help for this task
• The Empress Dowager Cixi is supposed to hand over power for good

Scene 3: At Yulu’s, Governor of Zhili / At the Palace

Heavily wounded, General Luo Rongguang informs Yulu, the Governor General of Zhili, that the Dagu Forts near Tianjin have fallen. Then he dies. So as not to incur Cixi’s wrath, Yulu then reports to her that it was the Chinese who captured the forts and that the foreign powers, who opposed the Boxers (and the regular Chinese troops who support them), had to escape to their ships. When Cixi, apparently pleased by the “victory”, contends that the Westerners should have learnt a lesson from this and that the Chinese government thus may now magnanimously offer peace, Gangyi intervenes and hands her the resolution of the foreign powers containing the three demands. Cixi is shocked and angered. Immediately, she has a “general meeting” of all high officials summoned.

The Guangxu emperor doubts that China will be victorious against the united foreign powers. After all, China was already unable to win against a single power, Japan, in the year Jiawu (1894). He shouts at Gangyi and accuses him for being so crazy as to suggest that China should officially declare war. Cixi then bans the emperor into the side chamber stating that he is too “fatigued”. The officials start to shout at one another: some favour war (Gangyi and Xu Tong), others oppose it (Xu Jingdeng and Yuan Chang). Ronglu discreetly remains in the background during the dispute. Finally, Cixi sends for the murderer of the German ambassador, Enhai, and has him kill also the two “traitors” (Xu Jingdeng and Yuan Chang), who opposed war, with his own hands. In a moving address to the officials, Cixi recalls how they all have had to suffer under the influence of the Western powers since the encroachment of the Portuguese during the Ming dynasty. She manages to unite all the officials behind her. (Meanwhile, the emperor is nervously playing with the dragon pattern on his robe). The emperor begs Cixi to reconsider, but she continues and declares war on England, France, America, Germany, Russia, Italy, Austria-Hungary and Japan.

In Canton, Li Hongzhang proclaims that he considers this declaration of war an illegitimate imperial edict; Zhang Zhidong follows suit in Wuchang. Thus, they reject the war orders. Zhang advocates a “union for the protection of China’s South and East”, in order to protect the “lifeline of the court”. Gu Hongming, however, trusts in the moral steadfastness of the people. Zhang therefore sends Gu to speak with the English consul. This is supposed to be a diversion measure for the eyes of the Imperial Court.

In a meeting with the English consul, Gu Hongming recites a patriotic poem in which he emphasises that the Chinese people will follow the Empress Dowager into war.

Cixi wants to witness the strength of China’s own troops and that of the foreign troops. Ronglu reports to her: The foreign armies are larger and stronger than the Chinese armies. Therefore, all soldiers of all armies have to be recruited. Gangyi wants to call the Boxer troops "虎神营" (Hu shen ying) "Tigers’ and Gods’ Battalion". He rectifies the name by stating that the name for the foreigners is "Yang guizi" 洋鬼子 i.e. Western devils. In opposition to this, the Boxers should be given an especially powerful name. He combines the new name from the following characters: 洋 Yang (Western) is homophone to 羊 Yang (sheep), 虎 Hu (tiger) devour sheep, 鬼 Gui (devils) mostly fear 神 Shen (gods). Thus he derives “Tigers’ and God’s Battalion”. Upon this explanation, Cixi gives her consent.

On the one side, behind the barriers, heavy artillery has been stationed and trained foreign soldiers have positioned themselves holding weapons. On the other side, a screaming crowd of Boxer supporters holding hay-forks and waving flags comes running unprotected towards the positioned soldiers.

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