What does China’s trade war with the United States have to do with the Boxer rebellion a century ago?

A Chinese state media “rallying cry” in support of a failed uprising against “foreign aggression” more than a century ago fell flat online, with many internet commenters ridiculing the official narrative.

In a commentary on Tuesday night, Xinhua lauded the 1900 Boxer rebellion as a key element in the “anti-imperialist patriotic movement in China’s modern history”, saying it “showed the determination of the Chinese people to unite to resist foreign aggression”.

The Boxers, practitioners of martial arts and known as yihetuan in Chinese, spearheaded an uprising against the Japanese and Western powers in northern China, killing missionaries and Chinese Christians and destroying property deemed to be Western.

They believed they could withstand bullets and were supported by the Qing government but were defeated by a coalition of eight foreign powers.

The commentary’s description of the Boxer movement is in line with the narrative taught in the Chinese education system, where high school history textbooks frame the rebellion as “a brave battle with the aggressor” and an attempt to “prevent a plot by foreign powers to divide China”.

The commentary did not appear to be tied to any anniversary and it was not clear what prompted it.