Boxer discipline in its strictest form did not allow sexual contact with or even looking at a woman for fear that the female's polluting yin would destroy the invulnerability ritual.

Their young age, combined with limited access to a reliable food source, meant that most Red Lanterns were likely premenstrual, or presumed to be by the community.

[14] They are mentioned as being able to walk on water, fly, set fire to Christians' homes, and stop their guns, powers which the male Boxers themselves did not claim.

The only good accounts of their actual activities come from the Battle of Tientsin, when they nursed wounded Boxers and did work such as sewing and cleaning.

In the 1950s, a former Red Lantern told another oral history project of the senior "sister disciple" who could go into a trance, clap her hands in the direction of a sick person, and cure the illness.

Another Red Lantern, the Holy Mother of the Yellow Lotus, had the reputation of being able to heal wounds by sprinkling clear water on them and even bringing the dead back to life by rubbing their bodies.

They caught the bullets from the foreign guns in their flower baskets and scattered them to set the buildings afire, forcing the French and Japanese soldiers to flee.

'"[28] Lin Hei'er, more commonly known as Huanglien Shengmu (Holy Mother of the Yellow Lotus), is the most well-known leader of the Red Lanterns.

One account tells that Lin Hei'er became involved in anti-foreign activities after her husband, Li You, was jailed in 1900 and later died following a conflict with a foreigner.

She traveled to Tianjin with Boxer leader Zhang Decheng where she began assembling women to form the Red Lanterns.

[33] She also possessed the unique ability to heal the wounded by sprinkling clear water on them and could restore life to the dead by rubbing their bodies.

[40] Her legacy prevailed, as foreign enemies would flee when red lanterns were put up on the boats along the Grand Canal in fear of her power.

[41] Another prominent member of the Red Lanterns was Azure Cloud, a young village woman who was said to be able to jump ten feet in the air as an expert in martial arts.

When Boxer leaders turned into collaborators and committed unspeakable crimes, Azure Cloud invited these traitors for a banquet.

[24] A village song bragged: In the late Qing period, the Boxers and Red Lanterns were remembered unfavorably by some of the educated Chinese elite for their religious and magical claims.

[43] Academic histories in China mentioned the Red Lanterns only in passing, even after 1949, when the Boxer movement was considered a patriotic uprising of the masses.

[44] Coincidences like their three-syllable names, use of the color red, and the fact that each group was largely composed of young and rebellious individuals heightened the similarities.

[51] Contemporaries looked to their defiance of Confucian moral codes as evidence of historical women fighting for liberation from traditional Chinese gender roles.