1900 - The Zhujiahe Massacre of 3,000 Catholics

July 15-20, 1900

Jing Xian, Hebei

The remains of the Zhujiahe Catholic Church after the Boxers set it alight, burning hundreds of Catholics to death.

Of all the ghastly and spine-chilling episodes of evil committed against God’s people in China, one of the worst is surely when approximately 3,000 Catholics were massacred by the Boxers in the village of East Zhujiahe in Jing Xian, Hebei Province. The Boxers were assisted in the day-long slaughter by 10,000 soldiers of the imperial army.

East Zhujiahe was a small village mostly comprised of Catholics. Approximately 300 of the 400 villagers were Catholics, in contrast to nearby West Zhujiahe village, which had none. East Zhujiahe served as a mission centre and contained an orphanage, schools for girls and boys, and a large church. Because the village had a wall encompassing it, many Catholics from surrounding areas took refuge there once the troubles started in May 1900. The number of people in the village swelled to approximately ten times the normal size.

By July, believers from 12 counties had taken refuge at Zhujiahe. Under the leadership of the missionaries, the refugees in Zhujiahe worked hard to fortify the village walls. More than 1,000 able-bodied men were inside, planning to defend the women and children by force if necessary. On July 15th the Boxers launched several attempts to enter Zhujiahe, all of which were unsuccessful, although a large number of Catholics were killed in the skirmishes. At the same time General Li Pingheng was ordered to lead his army to Beijing to defend the capital against the invasion of foreign troops. The route for the army’s journey took them directly through Jing Xian, so the Boxers, allied with the local magistrate, asked Li for help to exterminate the 3,000 Catholics holed up inside the walled village. The general sent an envoy to Zhujiahe to investigate the situation, but he was killed on the way, possibly by the Boxers. This incensed Li, and he sent 10,000 of his soldiers to wreak revenge on the Christians.

Realizing they would soon be slaughtered, the missionaries in Zhujiahe abandoned their plans to defend the village and focused their energies on preparing the believers for martyrdom. The army laid siege to the village for three days. Finally, “the situation went from bad to worse and by the third day, most of the able men were either dead or wounded. With no outside help in sight, those who could escape did so…but only a few could escape the disaster.”[1]

On a day that lives on in infamy—July 20, 1900—“it is calculated that over 3,000 of these refugees found themselves surrounded by the Boxers, put to the sword, burned alive, or drowned inside the well.”[2] The force of numbers overwhelmed the defenders and the Boxers and soldiers broke through the wall. Immediately after entering,

“they saw a group of the parish Virgins and Catechists, dressed in white and blue, carrying knives to defend their honour. With one command, the soldiers killed them all. Then they continued their search for women, and began to lead some away when suddenly a group of young men also came out from behind the wall to kill the invaders. Still another group waited at the church door to prevent the Boxers from entering there, but eventually all defenders were killed and the massacre began.”[3]

A painting depicting Mangin and the Christians who perished at Zhujiahe.

A number of Catholics—including missionaries Leon Mangin and Paul Denn, were shot dead inside the crowded church by the soldiers. The heartless men then decided to lock the remaining believers inside the church building and burn them to death, even though “They saw that most of those present were women and children, crowded around the bearded foreign priests, and unarmed…. Father Tang [Paul Denn] said in a loud voice: ‘Dear people, do not be disturbed. Have a little patience before we all go to heaven.’”[4]

The Boxers and soldiers encircled the doors and windows to ensure none of the believers could escape the flames. The church roof was made of reeds, so it burned rapidly. When the building was set alight. Many tried to escape through the windows, only to be hacked to death outside. It was a pitiful situation. One report says, “Women and children fled to the orphanage, where some jumped into the well. They either died by drowning or suffocation, but others were immobilized by the dead and could be heard crying for help for days. Nothing more tragic had ever been seen.”[5]

During the commotion, 51 Catholics did manage to escape the fire. The Boxers rounded them up but decided not to kill them that day, as they were exhausted from hours of continually beheading people. The Boxer chief went to the detainees and offered them their freedom if they would denounce Christ. Only two of the 51 did so and were released. The remaining 49 voluntarily entered their names on heaven’s scroll of martyrs. For months thousands of bodies were left strewn about Zhujiahe. Dogs, wolves, and birds of prey feasted on the carcases, while robbers came and took jewellery and clothing from the bodies. Remarkably, 87 years after the Zhujiahe massacre, remains were still being discovered. In 1987 the skeletons and belongings of 58 martyred nuns were retrieved from an old well in the village. It is believed the nuns took their own lives rather than be abused by the Boxers. The horror that the people of Zhujiahe experienced in those dark days can scarcely be imagined.

In October, 1901, a Catholic priest named Wan Baolu was given the unenviable task of conducting a mass funeral for the 3,000 slain Catholics. It took him and his team of workers a full month just to prepare. He

“began to gather the bodies, now unrecognisable by sight, and put them temporarily in a huge container. He also tried to get at those who died in the well by the orphanage, but the smell was unbearable, so all they could do was to bring in fresh soil and cover up the well completely.”[6]

The gruesome remains of human bones after the Boxers set fire to the Zhujiahe Catholic Church with hundreds of believers locked inside.

A mass grave was constructed under the floor of the church. Approximately “half of the martyrs were buried beneath the altar of the church itself, the rest of them were buried outside the confines of the church.”[7] On March 15, 1902, a huge civic and religious ceremony was held. A 20-feet (six-metre) high monument was constructed, outlining the story of the massacre for future generations to remember. During the Cultural Revolution in 1966 Red Guards desecrated the martyrs’ mass grave and monument, but it has since been rebuilt.

1. CRBC, The Newly Canonized Martyr-Saints of China, 57.
2. CRBC, Four Jesuits Martyred in China, 13.
3. CRBC, The Newly Canonized Martyr-Saints of China, 57.
4. CRBC, The Newly Canonized Martyr-Saints of China, 57-58.
5. CRBC, The Newly Canonized Martyr-Saints of China, 58.
6. CRBC, The Newly Canonized Martyr-Saints of China, 59.
7. CRBC, Four Jesuits Martyred in China, 16.