From In Our Time (Radio 4).

The Qing dynasty was failing. The emperor was busy playing diplomacy games with foreign powers, negotiating trade treaties and the like, meanwhile corruption in the hinterland meant that essential flood prevention dykes were no longer being maintained properly. A flood followed by a famine led to mass hunger and unemployment.

The Boxers were a collective of young workers who believed that through the magical powers of their martial arts, they could become impervious to bullets and overcome their enemies. They swept through the countryside towards Peking, without any real leadership, to express their anger with the Empire, and their hate of the foreigners.

The Dowager empress took the opportunity to depose the Emperor and asserted a new regime, which declared the foreigners an unwelcome threat. The Boxers were allowed into the city and the Western enclave was besieged.

The Boxers were eventually seen off by a multinational rescue party. The Chinese government was forced to accept humiliating terms and penalties, and these are still a source of resentment in the collective memory. Probably the last time a significant conflict occurred which involved the use of magic! And an unusual "uprising" where the common people were seen as being on the side of the establishment.