 Although China had been defeated by European powers in the 19th century, defeat at the hands of an Asian power was a bitter psychological blow.Anti-foreign sentiment and agitation grew, which would later culminate in the form of the Boxer Rebellion five years later.The Manchu population was devastated by the fighting during the First Sino-Japanese War and the Boxer Rebellion, with massive casualties sustained during the wars and subsequently being driven into extreme suffering and hardship in Beijing and northeast China.