The spirit that animated these fanatical devotees with their blind belief in incantations and charms[5] was also at work in the more enlightened Kwang-hsu. China was being dismembered. Germany had practically occupied Shantung. Russia possessed Liaotung. Japan held Formosa by right of treaty. And the Powers were coolly discussing "spheres of influence." They understood the temper of the Chinese as little as the Chinese had understood that of the foreigners. The young Emperor and his advisers realised something of the power of knowledge. And as a result of that Reform Edict the eyes of Young China were turned from the {271} contemplation of a dead past to the quickening study of all that was best and living in the colleges of the world. The _coup d'état_ of September 22, 1898, for a time put back the hands of the clock of progress, and the Empress-Dowager entered upon her reactionary career. The Boxers, every one of them, had for their objective the expulsion of the Tartar Dynasty, and the putting of a Chinese emperor on the throne. Adroitly the clever Empress laid hold of their "patriotic" desires and turned the machinations of the secret societies against the Government into a conspiracy for the utter extermination of the foreigner in China. Wiser counsels had for a time prevailed, and at the commencement of Boxerism the Imperial troops in Shantung had kept the "patriots" in order, overcoming by force of arms a party led by an abbot. Although several of these fanatics were shot, and others executed by the military commander, thus proving their "vulnerability," the Government was not disposed to do other than to accept such seemingly powerful allies. "They may be useless as a fighting force, but their claims to magic will dishearten the enemy, whilst their enthusiasm will inspire the soldiers of the regular army." Such was the subtle reasoning of the astute Empress. The die was cast, and she threw in her lot with those who had but a few short months previously been thirsting for her own blood. Such heroes as Jung-Lu, Yuan-Ch'ang, and Hsu-Ching-Cheng tried in vain to turn the infatuated ruler from her fatal policy. The two latter saved the lives of many a foreigner--that of the writer amongst them--by substituting the ideograph meaning "Protect" for the one meaning "Slay" in the Imperial Edict telegraphed all over the Empire, but suffered the extreme penalty themselves when the Empress found out what they had done. "Their limbs should be torn asunder," she screamed, "by chariots driven in opposite directions. Let them be summarily decapitated." {272} So the Boxers were let loose upon Chinese Christians and foreign missionaries alike. Killing, looting, burning went on apace; but perhaps the most tragic scene of the horrible time was that enacted at Taiyuenfu, in the yamen of Yu Hsien, the Nero of Shansi, who himself helped to do to death fifty-five missionaries--men, women, and children--on July 9, 1900.