Of course, with parallel realities here, Columbia put down the BoxerRebellion, which certainly did not happen in our history Irrational Games can play with Columbia and the BioShock lore to its hearts content.
The country's history is filled with terrible uprisings inspired by newfangled religions--among the most recent and cataclysmic, the Christian-tinged Taiping Heavenly Kingdom from 1851 to 1864 and the mystical, Kung Fu-like BoxerRebellion at the turn of the century.