View the short video outlining China's Boxer Rebellion during 1900 and read the interview of Boxers and Saints author Gene Luen Yang. For this blog post, write about your initial thoughts on Yang's graphic novel in light of the history of the rebellion and the interview. In your response, answer the following questions: 1) Were the Boxer Rebels justified in their fight against foreigners and foreign missionaries? Why or why not? 2) How does Yang connect his Asian-American upbringing with these graphic novels? 3) What are some of your predictions about what the second volume, Saints, will be about?
Responses must be 2-3 paragraphs long and must be posted by Tuesday, April 29th at 5:00 pm.
Excerpt from documentary on the Boxer Rebellion:
Fore the interview of Gene Luen Yang from Newsarama, click here.
Bonus! If you would like to view a more comprehensive history of the Boxer Rebellion, watch this.
If we subscribe to the idea that all people deserve the right to self-determination, the Boxers had justification to rebel. They used extreme, violent measures; the question that interests me more is whether or not the measures were justified (as opposed to the rebellion). In light of Gene Luen Yang's interpretation of the Chinese Christians, I would not say the high level of violence (especially against other Chinese) was necessary. Chinese culture in the 1900s had outcasted the Saints, so they turned to Christianity for a sense of belonging. They did not reject Chinese culture; in fact, they preserved it through the Communist revolution. The Boxers probably needed to wage violent war against foreign powers, but in killing Chinese Christians, they killed people who still felt connected to their own culture. Yang's experiences confirms the cultural allegiance of the Saints he had researched. In his community, they helped to maintain Chinese culture through Christian churches in the United States. The Saints did not deserve their "Devil" titles, and they did not deserve to die at the hands of the Boxers. My initial idea was that the graphic novel Saints would discuss a European in China, combatting the Boxers. Now, I know that it will discuss the experiences of a Chinese Christian, probably female from the long-haired character on the cover art. Her story will overlap somehow with the Boxer of the first novel; both will fight with the same passion for their respective ideals - their faces have the same combative expression. The second character on the cover of Saints has a less angry expression than that of the First Divine Sovereign on the cover of Boxers, however. The main character of Saints might express less violent rage.
The question of whether or not the Boxers were justified in their revolt against the foreign missionaries is a question that does not have a black and white response. The first emperor of China who Bao becomes or “embodies” wants to make Bao ruthless, and show him that in order to fight for your country it is necessary to use any means possible to get the country back to the rightful “people”. But if we ask if the boxers are justified in their rebellion, then we should also question if the missionaries are right to come into a country when they are suffering and take over control with force and manipulation. Even in the novel, some of the secondary devils are shown to be thugs using the name of “Christ” for their own agenda in order to receive food and logging and using violence when not getting their way. And during the interview the author seems to share the sentiment that the converts to Christianity were many times the outcasts. Nonetheless, it is always a shame to see innocents die.
Yang connects his catholic faith to the Chinese culture as many Chinese do due to the fact that many clung to this as a sense of identity during the communist revolution. But during the time of the boxer many Chinese felt those who converted to Catholicism were abandoning their Chinese culture.
For the next book I feel that the “Saint” girl with the orphan children who appeared in the end and Bao killed will be the focus of the next novel. It will probably be about her story and how he ended up in the position of being a “secondary devil” or convert to Christianity. It seems that it may have been out of necessity for her.
From the perspective of the Boxers, they were indeed justified in their fight against foreigners and foreign missionaries. Consider this. The Chinese have been a relatively isolated culture for thousands of years with many refined traditions and edicts. Every aspect of their culture has thousands of years of history behind it and because of such a rich history; there lies an intense nationalism and pride in tradition. Then one day, an influx of foreigners invades their nation for commercial gain. Although a social hierarchy was already present in China in the 19th century and many people are aware of the disparity that existed, tensions rise significantly because of the superior status given to foreign imperialists. This tension becomes a constant as foreign powers become more involved in Chinese society. This sudden threat to their way of life can be considered terrorism today. Imagine a terrorism in which the government is in support of, despite the opposition of the people. This was how this series of events was observed by the Boxers. The imposition of Christianity on the Chinese further fueled the rebellion. Christianity imposes many ideals that disagree with the structure of Chinese society. It wasn’t bad enough that foreigners were invading their home, but through Christianity, the foreigners were garnering the support of many of “their” people. This poison in Chinese society therefore had to be eliminated by first targeting the source, ideally just foreigners and foreign missionaries. Unfortunately, like werewolves, the Chinese Christians were also targeted by the boxers because they saw that this poison could spread not only by the foreigners but by their own people. Yang connects his Asian-American upbringing to these graphic novels by identifying the tension he feels between both his Eastern and Western heritage. As a Chinese who was born in America, he admits that he did not know much about the Boxer Rebellion and had to do his fair share of research. However, he identifies that he belongs to a Catholic Church and through his experiences with the Church; he realizes that many of the Chinese saints canonized by the Western Churches were perceived as traitors to their culture, someone who had turned their back on their own people. He empathizes with the outcasts who were the Chinese Christians however, he also recognizes the Boxer’s motivation for their uprising. Through his graphic novel, Yang highlights the Chinese’s passion for Chinese operas which is illustrated by his character’s ability to assume the form of Chinese Gods. Due to the dichotomy of Yang’s upbringing, he writes this two volume graphic novel to show that there are always two sides to every story. Regarding the second volume, Saints, I imagine that the graphic novel will be written from the perspective of a Chinese Christian, highlighting the difficulties and isolationism they faced in Chinese society. Among the Chinese they were labeled as traitors and were extremely neglected while among the foreigners, they were still regarded as a less civilized people and would be labeled as foreigners. The experiences that follow this struggle will hopefully be illustrated in the second volume.
It has been observed in history countless times: when foreigners intrude on land, the native people tend to fight back. It’s human instinct to protect what is ours so I feel the Boxer Rebels were justified in their fight against the foreigners. The real question at hand is whether the Boxers protected themselves in a fashion that was morally acceptable, which I do not wholly believe they did. There is a clear struggle between fighting for what you believe in and fighting just to kill, and Yang made this struggle very clear in his graphic novel. He describes the Boxers to live by a specific set of edicts but towards the end we start to see Bao becomes very conflicted in his decisions and starts to question his role as a leader. One of the prominent ways Yang connects his up-bringing with his novels is the way he split his story into two novels to describe both points of views of the Boxer Rebellion—from the Boxer and Saint perspectives. In his interview he describes his struggle as a Chinese-American individual who is often conflicted between his Western and Eastern background, and for this reason he delves into both sides of the Boxer Rebellion to present a story that most people have little knowledge about, myself included. A second way he adds his own personal twist into his graphic novels is by including the Chinese operas. Yang points out how these operas were a part of the popular culture and by adding these gods to his writing, he furthers his goal to write a story of historical fiction. I’m very interested to start to start the second novel. I would imagine since Saints describes the perspective of the Chinese people against the Boxers, the novel will highlight the struggles these people had as being viewed as a traitor in their own country. The idea of loneliness and seclusion will probably be highlighted, considering the Saints have lost their “home”.
At the time, Boxers were witnessing these foreigners, sometimes forcibly, converting Chinese people to Christianity. Never before witnessing such an act, the Boxers believe that the foreigners are attacking their country and community. Rather than relying on their own Chinese government, whose hands were tied by foreign powers, they took matters into their own hands. Their goal was to eliminate the virus that had invaded their country. Their actions sprouted from reasons they believed were justified. The foreigners, on the other hand, could also argue that their reasons for invading were justified as well. Here, foreigners saw Chinese people as heathens, and themselves as saviors. They felt they were doing the people of China a favor by helping them find their relationship with God. Foreigners saw themselves doing more good than bad. All these things apply to they way Boxers were thinking as they tried to kill off these foreigners. Whether the Boxer rebels were justified in their fight would depend on the point of view, and more importantly who is answering the question. I would say they were justified in their reason to get rid of foreigners, however, I do not feel that the violence exhibited, by both sides, is exactly justified.
Growing up as a Chinese American and being raised in a Catholic Church, Yang basically encompassed the problems present in the Boxer Rebellion. He connects his upbringing with the graphic novel by basically showing the tension between the Eastern and Western cultures. Yang understood that tension very well. He portrays the difficulty being exposed to both cultures and how it can be seen as good or bad, as he splits the graphic novel into two perspectives. by splitting this novel into two separate perspectives. As for the other perspective, Saints, I predict that we will see why Chinese people decide to convert to Christianity. Moreover, I hope that it will show us how these Chinese Christians felt to be labeled as devils and outcast.
It's hard to say whether the Boxers were justified in their actions against foreigners and Christian converts. This is because both parties were at fault if we look at the fact that violence was used by both the Boxers and the foreigners. However, I think that it is human nature to look to aggressive measures when put under intense pressure. If we look throughout human history, there are few people who have survived when their livelihood, food and dignity have been taken away from them. Therefore, I think that the decision that the Boxers made to fight back was a necessary one and I think that Yang portrays the suffering that the Boxers experienced very well.
I think the authors life is deeply connected to how he perceives the boxer rebellion and illustrates it. It is very interesting that he is a Chinese Christian telling this story from the perspective of people who were completely against the people who were his same religion in that at time. Yang talks about how his Chinese culture and religion were intermingled and I realize that maybe that was why he did so much research on the he Boxer rebellion to make sure that all of his data was accurate and not biased in or direction or another. Personally, as an Indian Christian, I can definitely relate to how my religion is tied in with my Indian culture and that it's important to go beyond just religion or just faith and see people as just human beings. When I hear about religious quarrels in villages from my home in India, I know that it's important not to look at the situation as black and white. Similarly, when Yang is reminded of when Chinese martyrs were canonized as saints, there is a discrepancy between the honor that they receive and the kind of negative opinions they retain among Chinese people who look at the situation from a historical perspective. I think Yang does this at times when he is contemplating good vs evil in his novel and it's a difficult question.
My predictions for Saints have become a lot more varied since I read the interview of Yang. He comes from a very interesting background and I think that he is probably going to tell this story from the Christian perspective. I think this is necessary because even I struggle to answer the question of who is justified for committing the atrocities that happened.
If we subscribe to the idea that all people deserve the right to self-determination, the Boxers had justification to rebel. They used extreme, violent measures; the question that interests me more is whether or not the measures were justified (as opposed to the rebellion). In light of Gene Luen Yang's interpretation of the Chinese Christians, I would not say the high level of violence (especially against other Chinese) was necessary. Chinese culture in the 1900s had outcasted the Saints, so they turned to Christianity for a sense of belonging. They did not reject Chinese culture; in fact, they preserved it through the Communist revolution. The Boxers probably needed to wage violent war against foreign powers, but in killing Chinese Christians, they killed people who still felt connected to their own culture. Yang's experiences confirms the cultural allegiance of the Saints he had researched. In his community, they helped to maintain Chinese culture through Christian churches in the United States. The Saints did not deserve their "Devil" titles, and they did not deserve to die at the hands of the Boxers.
ReplyDeleteMy initial idea was that the graphic novel Saints would discuss a European in China, combatting the Boxers. Now, I know that it will discuss the experiences of a Chinese Christian, probably female from the long-haired character on the cover art. Her story will overlap somehow with the Boxer of the first novel; both will fight with the same passion for their respective ideals - their faces have the same combative expression. The second character on the cover of Saints has a less angry expression than that of the First Divine Sovereign on the cover of Boxers, however. The main character of Saints might express less violent rage.
The question of whether or not the Boxers were justified in their revolt against the foreign missionaries is a question that does not have a black and white response. The first emperor of China who Bao becomes or “embodies” wants to make Bao ruthless, and show him that in order to fight for your country it is necessary to use any means possible to get the country back to the rightful “people”. But if we ask if the boxers are justified in their rebellion, then we should also question if the missionaries are right to come into a country when they are suffering and take over control with force and manipulation. Even in the novel, some of the secondary devils are shown to be thugs using the name of “Christ” for their own agenda in order to receive food and logging and using violence when not getting their way. And during the interview the author seems to share the sentiment that the converts to Christianity were many times the outcasts. Nonetheless, it is always a shame to see innocents die.
ReplyDeleteYang connects his catholic faith to the Chinese culture as many Chinese do due to the fact that many clung to this as a sense of identity during the communist revolution. But during the time of the boxer many Chinese felt those who converted to Catholicism were abandoning their Chinese culture.
For the next book I feel that the “Saint” girl with the orphan children who appeared in the end and Bao killed will be the focus of the next novel. It will probably be about her story and how he ended up in the position of being a “secondary devil” or convert to Christianity. It seems that it may have been out of necessity for her.
From the perspective of the Boxers, they were indeed justified in their fight against foreigners and foreign missionaries. Consider this. The Chinese have been a relatively isolated culture for thousands of years with many refined traditions and edicts. Every aspect of their culture has thousands of years of history behind it and because of such a rich history; there lies an intense nationalism and pride in tradition. Then one day, an influx of foreigners invades their nation for commercial gain. Although a social hierarchy was already present in China in the 19th century and many people are aware of the disparity that existed, tensions rise significantly because of the superior status given to foreign imperialists. This tension becomes a constant as foreign powers become more involved in Chinese society. This sudden threat to their way of life can be considered terrorism today. Imagine a terrorism in which the government is in support of, despite the opposition of the people. This was how this series of events was observed by the Boxers. The imposition of Christianity on the Chinese further fueled the rebellion. Christianity imposes many ideals that disagree with the structure of Chinese society. It wasn’t bad enough that foreigners were invading their home, but through Christianity, the foreigners were garnering the support of many of “their” people. This poison in Chinese society therefore had to be eliminated by first targeting the source, ideally just foreigners and foreign missionaries. Unfortunately, like werewolves, the Chinese Christians were also targeted by the boxers because they saw that this poison could spread not only by the foreigners but by their own people.
ReplyDeleteYang connects his Asian-American upbringing to these graphic novels by identifying the tension he feels between both his Eastern and Western heritage. As a Chinese who was born in America, he admits that he did not know much about the Boxer Rebellion and had to do his fair share of research. However, he identifies that he belongs to a Catholic Church and through his experiences with the Church; he realizes that many of the Chinese saints canonized by the Western Churches were perceived as traitors to their culture, someone who had turned their back on their own people. He empathizes with the outcasts who were the Chinese Christians however, he also recognizes the Boxer’s motivation for their uprising. Through his graphic novel, Yang highlights the Chinese’s passion for Chinese operas which is illustrated by his character’s ability to assume the form of Chinese Gods. Due to the dichotomy of Yang’s upbringing, he writes this two volume graphic novel to show that there are always two sides to every story.
Regarding the second volume, Saints, I imagine that the graphic novel will be written from the perspective of a Chinese Christian, highlighting the difficulties and isolationism they faced in Chinese society. Among the Chinese they were labeled as traitors and were extremely neglected while among the foreigners, they were still regarded as a less civilized people and would be labeled as foreigners. The experiences that follow this struggle will hopefully be illustrated in the second volume.
It has been observed in history countless times: when foreigners intrude on land, the native people tend to fight back. It’s human instinct to protect what is ours so I feel the Boxer Rebels were justified in their fight against the foreigners. The real question at hand is whether the Boxers protected themselves in a fashion that was morally acceptable, which I do not wholly believe they did. There is a clear struggle between fighting for what you believe in and fighting just to kill, and Yang made this struggle very clear in his graphic novel. He describes the Boxers to live by a specific set of edicts but towards the end we start to see Bao becomes very conflicted in his decisions and starts to question his role as a leader.
ReplyDeleteOne of the prominent ways Yang connects his up-bringing with his novels is the way he split his story into two novels to describe both points of views of the Boxer Rebellion—from the Boxer and Saint perspectives. In his interview he describes his struggle as a Chinese-American individual who is often conflicted between his Western and Eastern background, and for this reason he delves into both sides of the Boxer Rebellion to present a story that most people have little knowledge about, myself included. A second way he adds his own personal twist into his graphic novels is by including the Chinese operas. Yang points out how these operas were a part of the popular culture and by adding these gods to his writing, he furthers his goal to write a story of historical fiction.
I’m very interested to start to start the second novel. I would imagine since Saints describes the perspective of the Chinese people against the Boxers, the novel will highlight the struggles these people had as being viewed as a traitor in their own country. The idea of loneliness and seclusion will probably be highlighted, considering the Saints have lost their “home”.
At the time, Boxers were witnessing these foreigners, sometimes forcibly, converting Chinese people to Christianity. Never before witnessing such an act, the Boxers believe that the foreigners are attacking their country and community. Rather than relying on their own Chinese government, whose hands were tied by foreign powers, they took matters into their own hands. Their goal was to eliminate the virus that had invaded their country. Their actions sprouted from reasons they believed were justified. The foreigners, on the other hand, could also argue that their reasons for invading were justified as well. Here, foreigners saw Chinese people as heathens, and themselves as saviors. They felt they were doing the people of China a favor by helping them find their relationship with God. Foreigners saw themselves doing more good than bad. All these things apply to they way Boxers were thinking as they tried to kill off these foreigners. Whether the Boxer rebels were justified in their fight would depend on the point of view, and more importantly who is answering the question. I would say they were justified in their reason to get rid of foreigners, however, I do not feel that the violence exhibited, by both sides, is exactly justified.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up as a Chinese American and being raised in a Catholic Church, Yang basically encompassed the problems present in the Boxer Rebellion. He connects his upbringing with the graphic novel by basically showing the tension between the Eastern and Western cultures. Yang understood that tension very well. He portrays the difficulty being exposed to both cultures and how it can be seen as good or bad, as he splits the graphic novel into two perspectives. by splitting this novel into two separate perspectives. As for the other perspective, Saints, I predict that we will see why Chinese people decide to convert to Christianity. Moreover, I hope that it will show us how these Chinese Christians felt to be labeled as devils and outcast.
It's hard to say whether the Boxers were justified in their actions against foreigners and Christian converts. This is because both parties were at fault if we look at the fact that violence was used by both the Boxers and the foreigners. However, I think that it is human nature to look to aggressive measures when put under intense pressure. If we look throughout human history, there are few people who have survived when their livelihood, food and dignity have been taken away from them. Therefore, I think that the decision that the Boxers made to fight back was a necessary one and I think that Yang portrays the suffering that the Boxers experienced very well.
ReplyDeleteI think the authors life is deeply connected to how he perceives the boxer rebellion and illustrates it. It is very interesting that he is a Chinese Christian telling this story from the perspective of people who were completely against the people who were his same religion in that at time. Yang talks about how his Chinese culture and religion were intermingled and I realize that maybe that was why he did so much research on the he Boxer rebellion to make sure that all of his data was accurate and not biased in or direction or another. Personally, as an Indian Christian, I can definitely relate to how my religion is tied in with my Indian culture and that it's important to go beyond just religion or just faith and see people as just human beings. When I hear about religious quarrels in villages from my home in India, I know that it's important not to look at the situation as black and white. Similarly, when Yang is reminded of when Chinese martyrs were canonized as saints, there is a discrepancy between the honor that they receive and the kind of negative opinions they retain among Chinese people who look at the situation from a historical perspective. I think Yang does this at times when he is contemplating good vs evil in his novel and it's a difficult question.
My predictions for Saints have become a lot more varied since I read the interview of Yang. He comes from a very interesting background and I think that he is probably going to tell this story from the Christian perspective. I think this is necessary because even I struggle to answer the question of who is justified for committing the atrocities that happened.