Nineteenth century challenges to Qing hegemony were mounted by groups like the Taiping 太平. The Taipings were a revolutionary group with a highly eccentric blend of religious doctrine and political utopianism; at their peak they had half of China under armed control. While battling these rebels the Qing also were confronted by an array of groups motivated by separatist dreams, religious fervor, or the simple pressures of starvation and banditry. Through it all there were always groups organized around ethnocentric principles, wishing to expel the Manchu Qing Dynasty and replace it with one that was Han Chinese. A final ingredient in the internal mix of causes came from the growing force of anti-foreign sentiment directed toward the colonial powers in certain parts of China. The fervour of this anger was inspired by a reaction to the presence or activity of local missionaries, to the economic dislocation caused by foreign imports, or to nascent nationalism among the population; it could have combined with other elements in a mixture that defies easy analysis. The fact that the Qing Dynasty was itself decidedly anti-foreign complicates this area enormously.
The Boxer Rebellion 義和團 of 1900 is an excellent case in point. This anti-foreign movement was born in some of the same sectors of society that traditionally harboured anti-Manchu sentiment, for example secret societies. But in this instance the Dynasty supported the actions of the rebels in the hopes that the foreign presence could be exorcised. Hence the movement's slogan, "Support the Qing, Expel the Foreigner 扶清滅洋." Qing troops supported the rebels against the foreign troops sent to rescue the besieged foreigners in Beijing 北京. When the rebellion ended in the dramatic siege of the foreign legations in Beijing and the subsequent defeat of the rebels by a mixed group of foreign troops, the Dynasty was forced to switch sides, to deny any involvement with the movement, and to condemn its former allies in order to play the role of the foreigners' friend once again.
