Many Chinese scholars and followers of China's…

Many Chinese scholars and followers of China's numerous religions resent the white Christian missionaries who had flocked to China in the mid-nineteenth century; to stir up the common people, they frequently circulate rumors that the foreigners are sorcerers.

The French Sisters of Charity at their orphanage in the city of Tianjin give small cash rewards to people who bring in homeless or unwanted children, which gives rise to the rumor that children are being kidnapped, mutilated, and used for witchcraft.

Hostility mounts, and on June 21, 1870, an angry Chinese crowd of locally prominent representatives led by a local magistrate stands outside the orphanage; the French consul, Henri Fontanier, fires on the mob to disperse it, missing the district magistrate but killing his servant.

Enraged by this, the Chinese immediately storm and sack the orphanage, killing and mutilating in the process eighteen mostly French foreigners, including the consul and ten nuns.

A storm of protest, demanding severe punishment for those responsible, issues from both Paris and Rome.

European warships sail to Tientsin and Chinese troops are activated at battle stations.

Hostilities are averted only after the execution of sixteen Chinese, under pressure from the Western powers, nd the dispatch of an official mission to convey China's apologies to France.