Around the beginning of the 20th century, foreigners, including America, saw China as primitive and militarily weak. As a result, it was believed that China was ready to be exploited for its resources, as well as become a market for imports from other countries.
In 1898, Chinese peasants began to organize into fighting groups in hopes of driving foreigners out of China. They believed foreigners were a threat to Chinese culture. Foreign media labelled these militant peasants as "boxers".
On June 18, 1900, the Chinese Empress Dowager, a supporter of these "boxers", ordered all foreigners inside China to be killed. Several foreign ministers, christian ministers, and their families were killed. This gave the international community a reason to invade with a force of 2100 American, British, Russian, French, Italian, and Japanese soldiers to stop this killing.