The Boxer Rebellion, the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, is a xenophobic uprising and Christian genocide that occurs in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Militia United in Righteousness (Yìhéquán), known as the Boxers in English because many of its members have practiced Chinese martial arts, which at this time are referred to as Chinese Boxing.

After the Sino-Japanese War of 1895 villagers in North China had feared the expansion of foreign spheres of influence and resented the extension of privileges to Christian missionaries, who used them to support their followers.

In 1898, Northern China had experienced several natural disasters, including the Yellow River flooding and droughts.

Boxers blame these disasters on foreign and Christian influence.

Beginning in 1899, Boxers spread violence across Shandong and the North China Plain, destroying foreign property, attacking or murdering Christian missionaries and Chinese Christians.

The events come to a head in June, 1900, when Boxer fighters, convinced they are invulnerable to foreign weapons, converge on Beijing with the slogan "Support the Qing government and exterminate the foreigners."

Diplomats, missionaries, soldiers and some Chinese Christians take refuge in the diplomatic Legation Quarter and are besieged for fifty-five days by the Imperial Army of China and the Boxers.

An Eight Nation Alliance of American, Austro-Hungarian, British, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Russian troops moves into China to lift the siege and rescue stranded civilians.

The Empress Dowager Cixi, who had initially been hesitant, now supports the Boxers and on June 21, issues an Imperial Decree declaring war on the invading powers.

Chinese officialdom is split between those supporting the Boxers and those favoring conciliation, led by Prince Qing.

The supreme commander of the Chinese forces, the Manchu General Ronglu (Junglu), will later claim he acted to protect the foreigners.

Officials in the southern provinces ignore the imperial order to fight against foreigners.

The Eight-Nation Alliance, after being initially turned back by the Imperial Chinese military and Boxer militia, brings twenty thousand armed troops to China, defeats the Imperial Army in Tianjin, and arrives in Beijing on August 14, relieving the siege of the Legations.

Plunder of the capital and the surrounding countryside ensues, along with summary execution of those suspected of being Boxers in retribution.

The Boxer Protocol of September 7, 1901, provides for the execution of government officials who had supported the Boxers, provisions for foreign troops to be stationed in Beijing, and four hundred and fifty million taels of silver—approximately ten billion dollars at 2018 silver prices and more than the government's annual tax revenue—to be paid as indemnity over the course of the next thirty-nine years to the eight nations involved.

The Qing dynasty's handling of the Boxer Rebellion further weakens their control over China, and leads the dynasty to attempt major governmental reforms in the aftermath.