Charismatic leaders and divine mandate in the boxer uprising: a study of religious authority and social mobilization
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications June 30, 2026 Gan Tan, Jie Yang, Lan Cheng
This study examines the dynamics between charismatic leadership and the Mandate of Heaven (tianming, 天命) in the Boxer Uprising (1899–1901), analyzing how religious authority was constructed, exercised, and ultimately collapsed. Drawing on Max Weber’s theory of charismatic authority and the historical genealogy of tianming discourse, the research develops an integrative “Sacred Mobilization...