Red lanterns posted on Thursday, September 15, 2005
Attacks on Westerners and Chinese Christians were a prominent feature of Chinese society during the late Qing
Typically these attacks have been attributed to xenophobia, a fear of foreigners, or seen as a response to imperialism in its many forms - religious, social, economic, and political.
Historians have also pointed to Western imperialism as an explanation for the hostile treatment of Westerners and Chinese Christians in the nineteenth century
To be sure, imperialist expansion by Westerners in Chongqing elicited hostility that was targeted against their foreign identities
Taking advantage of new privileges exacted in the post-Opium War treaties, Western missionaries and Chinese Christians were much more aggressive in their efforts to encroach upon the local power structure
the conflict between Boxers and Christians was not regarded by the Boxers as a purely military confrontation. Instead, it was seen by them as a contest pitting their magic and the efficacy of their gods against those of the Christian missionarie
Although (married) adult women, who had been polluted by menstruation, intercourse, and childbirth, threatened the efficacy of the Boxers' magico-religious ritual, not all females were seen by the movement as being of negative influence
In fact, corps of female adolescents called the Red Lanterns played a role counterpart to that of the Boxers
The Red Lanterns were typically young enough that they had not experienced marriage, intercourse, or childbirth, and in the near famine conditions of the time many had not yet undergone menarche
This lack of female pollution ensured their purity, upon which their potent magical powers were based
When opponents of the Boxer movement wished to a cast aspersions on the Red Lanterns, for example, they called their morality into question by implying that they engaged in promiscuity or illicit sexual relations, rather than doubting the possibility of the magical powers which the Red Lanterns claimed
the Red Lanterns have been mythologized in several different ways in order to serve the needs of two distinct phases of the Cultural Revolution era
The Red Lanterns were emphasized because the Red Guards identified with them and because they possessed a potent revolutionary symbolism
--
Attacks on Westerners and Chinese Christians were a prominent feature of Chinese society during the late Qing
Typically these attacks have been attributed to xenophobia, a fear of foreigners, or seen as a response to imperialism in its many forms - religious, social, economic, and political.
Historians have also pointed to Western imperialism as an explanation for the hostile treatment of Westerners and Chinese Christians in the nineteenth century
To be sure, imperialist expansion by Westerners in Chongqing elicited hostility that was targeted against their foreign identities
Taking advantage of new privileges exacted in the post-Opium War treaties, Western missionaries and Chinese Christians were much more aggressive in their efforts to encroach upon the local power structure
the conflict between Boxers and Christians was not regarded by the Boxers as a purely military confrontation. Instead, it was seen by them as a contest pitting their magic and the efficacy of their gods against those of the Christian missionarie
Although (married) adult women, who had been polluted by menstruation, intercourse, and childbirth, threatened the efficacy of the Boxers' magico-religious ritual, not all females were seen by the movement as being of negative influence
In fact, corps of female adolescents called the Red Lanterns played a role counterpart to that of the Boxers
The Red Lanterns were typically young enough that they had not experienced marriage, intercourse, or childbirth, and in the near famine conditions of the time many had not yet undergone menarche
This lack of female pollution ensured their purity, upon which their potent magical powers were based
When opponents of the Boxer movement wished to a cast aspersions on the Red Lanterns, for example, they called their morality into question by implying that they engaged in promiscuity or illicit sexual relations, rather than doubting the possibility of the magical powers which the Red Lanterns claimed
the Red Lanterns have been mythologized in several different ways in order to serve the needs of two distinct phases of the Cultural Revolution era
The Red Lanterns were emphasized because the Red Guards identified with them and because they possessed a potent revolutionary symbolism
--