 As a result of foreign pressure from the Russian Empire, which had annexed Outer Manchuria by 1860, the Qing dynasty encouraged settlement of Shandong people to what remained of northeast China.Shandong was one of the first places in which the Boxer Rebellion started and became one of the centers of the uprising.In 1899, the Qing general Yuan Shikai was appointed as governor of the province to suppress the uprising.