The Boxer Rebellion was an anti-imperialist, anti-foreign, and anti-Christian uprising in China in 1899. The immediate background of the uprising included severe drought and disruption by the growth of foreign spheres of influence after the Sino-Japanese War of 1895. After several months of growing violence and murder in Shandong and the North China Plain against foreign and Christian presence in June 1900, Boxer fighters, convinced they were invulnerable to foreign weapons, converged on Beijing with the slogan "Support the Qing government and exterminate the foreigners". The Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi supported the Boxers and on June21 issued an Imperial Decree declaring war on the foreign powers. Diplomats, foreign civilians, soldiers and Chinese Christians sought refuge in the Legation Quarter where they were besieged.