[SSU-YÜ, Teng, & FAIRBANK, John K. (1982).China's response to the West. A documentary Survey,1839-1923. Cambridge. Harvard University Press, pg.188-190]

Proclames dels Bóxers

Proclama 1
        Statement by the Saintly Emperor Kuan-kung during his visitation at our divining altar: This year seventy per cent of the population will die. Lives can be saved by praying to Bodhisattva Kuan-yin for her mercy and kind-less. Circulate this statement and disaster can be avoided—one sheet for yourself, three for your whole family. To refuse to circulate it and to tell lies about it will cause condemnation by the gods and an increase in the disaster.

        Those who do good will be safe, those who do evil can hardly escape. If you do not believe, you will see that in the seventh and eighth months of his year countless people will die. These gods and saints have always been watching for the good and evil deeds among you mortals. Heaven now fears ten disasters. The first is about how the world is going to be in a turmoil. The second is about everything in Shantung being wiped out. The third is that flood will cover Hupei and Hunan. The fourth is that wars will come to Szechwan. The fifth is that Kiangnan is to suffer from a big famine and uprising. The sixth is about the deaths of more than half of the population. The seventh is that members of the Righteous and Harmonious Boxing Order [I-ho-ch'üan] are too weak. The eighth is about the foreigners disturbing Chihli. The ninth is that there will be clothes but no one to wear them. The tenth is that there will be rice but no one to eat it.

        A disaster however may be turned to a blessing for destiny is in charge.

        One who copies this out for somebody else will have his whole family exempted from suffering the calamity.

        On the 19th day of the sixth month, and the 26th day of the seventh month, make sacrificial offerings towards the south and you will be exempted from suffering the calamity

Proclama 2
        The Ma-lan Village in the Ch'i-chia police magistrate's precinct of the district of Wan-[p'ing] in the prefecture of Shun-t'ien, Peking, on the oc-casion of piously setting up the sacred I-ho Society, makes the following declaration of instructions and strict advice to our fellow villagers and neighbors The Catholics since the Hsien-feng period ( 1851-1861 ) have conspired with foreigners, have caused China trouble, wasted our national revenue, broken up our monasteries, destroyed Buddhist images, and seized our people's graveyards. All these myriad acts of evil should be bitterly resented. This has affected people's trees and plants so as to make them suffer from the catastrophes of locusts and drought almost every year. Our nation is deprived of peace and our people of security. This has angered the Court in Heaven.

        Now by the grace of the great deity in Heaven, all the spirits have descended to set up an altar in the wall in order to teach our young men their magic boxing so they can support the Ch'ing, extinguish the foreigners, and enforce right principles on behalf of Heaven. When we exert our energy for the nation in order to bring peace to the land, when we help the farmers and protect our villages, this is an omen that prosperity is coming after mis-fortune has reached its limit.

        Nevertheless, we are afraid that some ignorant people and vagabonds may rely upon the foreigners power in acting contrary to reason, and cling to the strong in order to oppress the weak. They should be reported to the village head and the chief of the society, who will handle public affairs justly and sentence them according to law, and who are not allowed to be in-fluenced by selfish purposes. If they indulge in private favoritism, the eyes of our spirits like lightning will pierce through them without discrimination, and will not let them get away with any deviation from the just punishment. Because some persons use foreign religion and tricky techniques to deceive the people, Heaven above is angered and is sending many sages to descend to earth and come to the divining altar to initiate our youths into the I-ho Society. I means kindness, and ho means politeness; kindness and politeness will make town and countryside peaceful and harmonious. Our people should take right principles and virtue as their foundation and should devote them-selves to agriculture as their profession. They should follow and obey Bud-dhism. They are not permitted to resort to public accusations for avenging a personal grievance, to use poverty as a pretext for oppressing other poor people, to rely on strength to maltreat the weak, or to regard the right as wrong.

        Prepared by Group K'an [the second of the Eight Trigrams] of the I-Ho Society, Ma-lan Village ch’i-chia police precinct at Chai-t’ang.

Proclama 3
        Attention: all people in markets and villages of all provinces in China— now, owing to the fact that Catholics and Protestants have vilified our gods and sages, have deceived our emperors and ministers above, and oppressed the Chinese people below, both our gods and our people are angry at them, yet we have to keep silent. This forces us to practice the I-ho magic boxing so as to protect our country, expel the foreign bandits and kill Christian converts, in order to save our people from miserable suffering. After this notice is issued to instruct you villagers, no matter which village you are living in, if there are Christian converts, you ought to get rid of them quickly. The churches which belong to them should be unreservedly burned down. Everyone who intends to spare someone, or to disobey our order by concealing Christian converts, will be punished according to the regulation when we come to his place, and he will be burned to death to prevent his impeding our program. We especially do not want to punish anyone by death without warning him first. We cannot bear to see you suffer innocently. Don't disobey this special notice