Many foreign powers have ravaged China in search of wealth, brutally destroying lands and violently fighting people. After much of the devastation, the dynasty was "forced" to accept foreign powers (only after assuring Cixi that her position and power would be maintained). The result of these was called the Boxer Protocol – which would later be considered one of the “Unequal Treaties”. Among the clauses of the Boxer Protocol, China is supposed to pay a huge sum of money, as compensation, to around 14 countries (in different proportions). Furthermore, foreign powers were granted the right to conquer and inhabit certain places in China. Furthermore, they had to formally apologize to foreign powers. This apology was particularly painful for the Chinese, who believed that they held the most power and might even consider themselves divine. This was a huge blow to their ego and reputation. They also had to stop violence against foreigners (and anyone who didn't would be punished). Empress Cixi initiated some of the other reforms after the Protocol, including the elimination of exams. “Ironically, Cixi sponsored the implementation of a more radical reform program than that proposed by the reformers she decapitated in 1898” (including the reforms created by her arrested nephew). He had so much power that no one questioned it