Lin Hei'er (; 1871 – 1900?) was a Chinese rebel during the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

, known as the Holy Mother of the Yellow Lotus (). She was an acrobat with martial arts knowledge who became a member of the Yihetuan. During the Boxer Rebellion, she organized and commanded the Red Lantern unit of female soldiers in

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

Life

Born on a Tianjin canal houseboat, Lin studied acrobatics and earned a living as an itinerant entertainer with her father. She married Li Youchuan while still very young. Li Youchuan was arrested by British soldiers during a raid against the opium trade and died in prison. Other accounts say that she later became a prostitute in Houjia, on the south bank of the South Canal in the

Hongqiao District Hongqiao District () is a district in the city of Tianjin, China. The name of the district derives from the name of a bridge - Dahong Bridge () - on the Ziya River, a tributary of Hai River. Administrative divisions Transportation Metro Hong ...

, Tianjin. It is also said that she also worked as a witch. The theory that Lin Heier worked as a prostitute comes from some unofficial histories of the Qing Dynasty.There is some controversy as to whether she worked as a prostitute. Some unofficial histories of the Qing Dynasty said that Lin Heier was a pimp and even had a chaotic private life since childhood, which may not be very credible. Furious with foreigners because of the death of Li Youchuan, Hei'er joined the rebels of the Yihetuan. Once trained in martial arts, she trained female recruits and founded the Red Lantern Unit of young female soldiers, the name coming from the color of their clothes. With rebel's widows she formed the Blue Lantern Unit and with the old women, the Black Lantern Unit. In addition she formed the Pan Lantern Unit of cooks who were in charge of feeding the rebel troops. She recruited widows, prostitutes, beggars and peasants into her ranks and rejected well-to-do women as useless "lotus feet". In July 1900, the combined force of the

Eight-Nation Alliance The Eight-Nation Alliance was a multinational military coalition that invaded northern China in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion, with the stated aim of relieving the foreign legations in Beijing, which were being besieged by the popular Boxer ...

descended on Beijing and Tianjin and looted and pillaged the cities. Lin Hei'er and other leaders put up fierce resistance. Lin Hei'er was injured during the

Battle of Tientsin The Battle of Tientsin, or the Relief of Tientsin, occurred on 13–14 July 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion in Northern China. A multinational military force, representing the Eight-Nation Alliance, rescued a besieged population of foreign n ...

and was captured along with the other leaders on July 14, 1900, when the imperial troops who secretly helped the rebels abandoned them to their fate. Her final destination is unknown. Probably she was tried and executed, although turned into a popular heroine, the popular songs proclaimed that she survived. A monument in her honor, the Red Lantern monument, was erected in 1994 near her place of birth.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lin, Hei'er 1871 births 1900 deaths Year of death uncertain 19th-century Chinese people 19th-century Chinese women Chinese acrobatic gymnasts Chinese people of the Boxer Rebellion Qing dynasty rebels Gymnasts from Tianjin Missing person cases in China Women in 19th-century warfare

Life

See also

References

Bibliography