Chinese Catholics prepared to defend their church from the Boxers. Boxer Rebellion, 1899

The Boxers were Chinese citizens in the late 19th century who, in response to growing power by the imperialist Great Powers, started attacking Western officials and their special districts given to them through unequal treaties in cities around China. They did this in the name of the ruling government, who didn’t outright support them, but didn’t do anything to stop them either. This led to an intervention by the West and Japan and hundreds of thousands dying.