Glowing red lanterns

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The Glowing Red Lanterns were a group of Chinese women who fought against the Western powers during the Boxer Rebellion .

history

The glowing red lanterns were originally martial arts associations of women who practiced with fans and sabers . At the time of the Boxer Rebellion, they formed combat troops, which began to show public presence as an organization from around the spring of 1900. They were in the tradition of historical women's combat units during Chinese history. B. During the Taiping Revolution, female combat units sided with the rebels. In addition to the glowing red lanterns , which were the most popular and numerically strongest group, there were also the glowing blue lanterns , the glowing green lanterns and the glowing black lanterns .

During the struggle against the imperialist powers, these groups worked closely with the boxers. You were there, in the sense of a division of labor according to sex, mainly in the care of the sick and wounded. They also worked on patrols and scouts, as well as guard posts and couriers. In these functions, they also monitored their groups for informers and arrested them. Occasionally they also took part in military actions, B. at the siege of Tianjin Cathedral . The spatial framework in which the glowing red lanterns mainly appeared was limited to the villages and towns around the city of Tianjin and parts of Shandong .

In research, the benefit of the glowing red lanterns for the insurgents, according to the tasks they have mainly taken on, is seen primarily in their logistical potential, less in their fighting power.

The influence of the magical powers ascribed to the glowing red lanterns should not be underestimated . In a contemporary song it was said: “The boxers defend the country, the glowing red lanterns beat the foreign devils.” The glowing red lanterns were ascribed the ability to heal illnesses and wounds. It was also believed that they could drop swords on enemies' heads and scorch them with bolts of fire. If they stood upright and didn't move, they should be able to detach their souls from their bodies in order to fly into battle over the battlefield. You could fly and control the winds. Many fires in foreign and Christian homes have been attributed to the latter aspect. For example, the fire in the embassy district of Tianjin on June 18, 1900. In the population of Tianjin, the glowing red lanterns were assigned a quasi-religious position. When they were there, other women dared not look at them or raise their heads, and women and men (including the boxers) knelt while they were there.

organization

The individual groupings of the lanterns were closely linked. This applies above all to the leadership groups, but also to the lower units of the combat units, but there was never a higher-level organization that encompasses all groups. It should also be noted that the individual groups differ in their fighting style and their religious-magical practices as well as in terms of their social composition. The widows were organized in the Luminous Blue Lanterns , the Luminous Green Lanterns included women aged 40 and over, and the Luminous Red Lanterns included girls and younger women.

The members of each group were in a hierarchy of sororities organized which met the qualification ranks of the martial arts. At the head was a master. According to the report from Zhao Qing, a member of the Glowing Red Lanterns , once a week her group took to the streets as a bandage, circled the village, and brandished their sabers. During the uprising, the members of the groups lived apart from their families and trained together. After 49 or 100 days, they were allowed to visit their home or demonstrate their arts together on a marketplace, probably for publicity reasons, but also as a kind of competition among each other.

The clothes of the glowing red lanterns consisted of headscarves, a jacket buttoned in the middle over a red robe with tight sleeves.

Reasons for the social composition of the red lanterns

The groups of lanterns were made up of young women or girls, widows and women over 40 years of age. Historical research has worked out the explanatory approach that in agriculturally dominated societies like China at the time, women were generally considered unclean. Menstrual blood as well as sexual intercourse and the birth of children could be regarded as particular highlights of this impurity .

Research highlights the fact that the lanterns were mainly composed of women who, in the eyes of society, were characterized by particular purity. Most of them were either not yet menstruating women or women who are in menopause , or widows. They all corresponded to the image of ritual purity without sexual potency or attraction. In this position they could connect to deities that gave them their powers.

In support of this thesis, the fact is emphasized that the individual combat units organized themselves separately according to their status, that is, the respective position was assigned different degrees of purity. The attacks on the lanterns were not directed against their magical practices or religious ideas, but mainly accused them of unauthorized sexual activities.

Reception and historical research

At the time of the uprising, Buddhist -influenced writings were circulating among the population , which spoke of the redemption of the world by means of the glowing red lanterns , an uprising of light against darkness. Research recognizes parallels in these writings to the texts of the White Lotus Group , but a direct connection between the Luminous Red Lanterns and the White Lotus cannot be established. Certain practices such as shamanistic rituals, magical powers and martial arts are considered to be the cultural followers of the White Lotus, which first entered popular culture and were then adopted by the lanterns .

During the Cultural Revolution , the Red Guards were officially placed in the tradition of the glowing red lanterns . They were seen as the embodiment of a revolutionary spirit in the struggle against the imperialist powers. In particular, they were instrumentalized during Mao Zedong's dispute with his opponents in the party. The other groups of lanterns such as the Luminous Green Lanterns did not receive any reception at this time.

literature

  • Mechthild Leutner: The shining red lanterns In Mechthild Leutner, Klaus Mühlhahn (Hrsg.): Colonial war in China. The suppression of the boxer movement 1900–1901 . Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-86153-432-7 .