Hai-Wei, and Germany's seizure of Kaio-Chau. And then these powers and others went even further, by establishing what were known as Spheres of Influence throughout the Celestial Kingdom.
In the past China had lost ground only in her outlying districts or territories. Now one of her original eighteen provinces was opened to the foreigners; and probably the Chinese felt as Americans might have felt had somebody tampered with the rights of the citizens living in one of our thirteen original States. Railroads were built against the Chinese will; and, because of resistance to the workers on the roads, two whole Chinese villages were razed, and the inhabitants driven forth, homeless.
The anti-foreign feeling had been strong; and now, as the Chinese saw the Europeans gradually closing down upon them, with here and there a number of Americans as well, the feeling against the "foreign devils"—as all people of white skin are called—grew hotter and hotter.
The missionaries were the first to feel the pressure brought to bear by the Boxers, who, in secret conclave, determined that all foreigners must either be driven from the countiy or slain. Notices were
