The Nineteenth Century saw a great European influence in China including Christianity. "Opium Wars" between China, Britain and France led to defeats for China which saw strategically important port of Hong Kong ceded to the Brits. In 1894-95, Japan attacked China and won Korea, Formosa (Taiwan) and Port Arthur. China lost effective control of her lucrative sea ports. 50 of China's most prosperous ports were deemed "treaty ports" which meant that they were open to foreign trade and residence. European nations also divided up China into spheres of influence in which the European nation involved all but ran the area. The wishes of the Chinese were ignored which, understandably, created a great deal of resentment amongst the Chinese.

The Manchu's seemed uninterested or unable to take action against the European ‘take-over’ of China and were strongly financially weekend by the from England introduced Opium. This led to the Taiping Rebellion (1850 to 1864) that involved 600 cities and as many as 20 million deaths and vast areas of fertile land destroyed. Ultimately, the Manchu's restored their power (more or less) with the help of the occupying nations, which made them even more hated by the Chinese people. Although some effort was put into changing the perception of the Chinese, nothing changed on the status-quo. This then lead to the famous Yi-Ho Tuan movement - the Boxer Rebellion as it was called by the English (who still did not know of Kung Fu).