A Short History of Boycotts

From 19th Century China to Modern Media

From 19th Century China to Modern Media

The term boycott has its roots in an episode in the Irish Land War of 1880. Charles Cunningham Boycott, a British land agent, became the target of an organized effort to resist evictions by Irish tenants. Their success gave rise to the adoption of his name as a term to describe a collective economic response to perceived injustice.

However, when used as a political tool with foreign policy implications, boycotts are truly a Chinese invention. They gained global significance in the 19th century when they were used to protest foreign exploitation at various times in their history. During the First Opium War (1839-1842) the Chinese boycotted opium and other British products. Boycotts of foreign goods sold in China intensified as a result of the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) when Taiwan was ceded to Japan.

As China moved into the 20th century, the focus of its boycotts broadened. American textiles, machinery, tobacco, and manufactured products were boycotted in 1905 because of anger over the discriminatory practices of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. China’s goals were not just economic retaliation; boycotts played a policy role in foreign relations, and they continue to do so today.¹

Historically and not surprisingly, Japan has always been a major target. In 1915 boycotts were the response of Chinese consumers to Japan’s Twenty-One Demands² which sought to extend Japanese control over Chinese territory, and then again in 1931 after Japan’s invasion of Manchuria. Chinese boycotts of foreign products continue until this day – witness the anti-Korean campaign of a few years ago. Taken together, boycotts were a key element in the rise of Chinese nationalism.³ They damaged Japanese commercial interests, but they were not powerful enough to prevent occupation and war with Japan.

In the 21st century, as its economic and military power have grown, China itself has become the object of boycotts, by India, the Philippines, and Vietnam, mostly due to territorial disputes. In the US and Europe there has been longstanding concern about human rights violations in Chinese manufacturing, but as supply chains have gone global, it is not always easy to identify what is and is not a Chinese product to boycott.

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Media Boycotts and Modern Consequences