Tianjin Massacre

The Tianjin Massacre (Chinese: 天津教案; pinyin: Tiānjīn Jiào'àn; lit. 'Tianjin Religion Case'), also spelled the Tientsin Massacre, was an attack on Christian missionaries and converts in the late 19th century during the late Qing dynasty. 60 people died in attacks on French Catholic priests and nuns. There was intense belligerence from French diplomats, and armed foreign intervention in Tianjin (Tientsin) in 1870. The incident nearly precipitated a war and marked an end to relative cooperation between foreign powers and the Tongzhi court, and adversely affected the ongoing renegotiation of the Treaties of Tientsin, first signed in 1858. French Catholic missionaries were active in China; they were funded by appeals in French churches. The Holy Childhood Association (L'Oeuvre de la Sainte Enfance) was a Catholic charity founded in 1843 to rescue Chinese children from infanticide. It was a target of Chinese anti-Christian protests led by the local gentry who saw the need to defend Confucianism. Rioting sparked by false rumors of the killing of babies led to the death of a French consul and provoked a diplomatic crisis.