Boxers & Saints

by Gene Luen Yang

Color by Lark Pien

ISBN 978-1-59643-359-5

ISBN 978-1-59643-689-3

“What is China but a people and their stories?”

As the youngest son, Little Bao never expected fame or glory. But when he learns how to harness ancient powers, and transforms into a mythical warrior, he rises to become a leader in the Boxer rebellion. This nationalist movement seeks to oppose foreign imperialism and the spread of Christianity within China. Little Bao believes he is fighting for his country, but so many of the people who are dying are his countrymen, both his allies within the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fist, and those Chinese citizens who have converted to Christianity. Meanwhile, in a village not far from Little Bao’s home, Four-Girl grows up without a proper name, cursed and rejected by her grandfather for being born on a day of ill-luck. Unable to find acceptance within her family, she embraces their belief in her devilry, and gives herself over to the new foreign faith that is sweeping the land. Though she finds acceptance among the Christians, and finally receives a proper name, her lack of true faith is driven home by her visions of Joan of Arc, who sacrificed so much for her country and her religion. But do these visions mean Vibiana should become a religious martyr like Joan, or renounce her foreign faith in the name of patriotism?

Gene Luen Yang draws on Chinese history and mythology in these two companion volumes. This intriguing time period (1894-1900) provides ample scope for the story, and it is mythology and the costuming of Chinese opera that give Yang room for artistic flair rather than pure visual realism. Lark Pien uses bright colours to bring the Chinese warriors to life, while Vibiana’s visions of Joan of Arc are defined by the use of light, and a warm, golden glow. The difficulty of communication between the two sides is driven home by a clever lettering technique on Yang’s part; dialogue that would have taken place in Chinese is conveyed in English, while Western languages are represented by an invented, Chinesesque script that is only rarely subtitled.

Vibiana, known to her family as Four-Girl, appears only twice, and briefly, within the pages of Boxers. In Saints, she takes center stage, showing one of the many ways in which Chinese converts might have been drawn to Christianity. Together, the two volumes tell the story of a brutal resistance that rose up in response to a brutal foreign power. Neither side comes away clean. It is the barest glimpse of the complexity and tragedy of the Boxer rebellion, and in acknowledgement of this fact, Yang provides a suggested list of Further Reading on the subject.

The decision to split Boxers & Saints into two volumes is an interesting one, because the two timelines are braided together. However, actually intermixing them would result in long asides from one story to the other, and the tones are very different. Boxers focuses on an outward battle, while most of Saints is about an inward struggle. Yet either one without the other does not give the full scope of how each side was wronged, and suffered. Though Saints is the shorter volume, and clearly better read after Boxers, they are both better read in short order so that they can complement one another.

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