In the face of foreign aggression and natural disaster, masses of Chinese people turn to traditional folk religion and martial arts to attempt to throw out the imperialists.
A couple sources for reading more, and which I used in preparing this episode:
Joseph Esherick, The Origins of the Boxer Uprising
Paul Cohen, History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth
Some names from this episode:
Wang Lun, leader of White Lotus rebellion in the 18th century
Empress Dowager Cixi, ruler of China during this period
Kang Youwei, Confucian advocate of liberal modernization and focus of last episode
Emperor Guangxu, Emperor of China who was put under house arrest by Cixi after attempting to assert his power during the Hundred Days Reform (last episode)
Alphonse Favier, Roman Catholic bishop in Beijing who engaged in looting when the Eight-Nation Army occupied Beijing and crushed the Boxers