On the evening of 11 June 1900 leaflets were posted in the streets, calling for the massacre of the Christians and threatening anyone who would dare to shelter them with death.

The first of these martyrs was Metrophanes, Chi Sung, leader of the Peking Mission, who was killed, along with his family, during the Boxer Rebellion.

[3] In April 22, 1902 the Russian Orthodox Church allowed the local veneration of the Chinese Martyrs.

Many Protestants also died during the Boxer Rebellion, including the China Martyrs of 1900, but there is no formal veneration (according to their religious beliefs) nor a universally recognized list.

[6] Though some missionaries considered themselves non-denominationally Protestant, among those killed were Baptists, Evangelicals,[7] Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists,[8] Presbyterians[9] and Plymouth Brethren.