Regarding China, maybe there's some sort of way we could show it. The simplest solution could just be to maybe have some supplementary maps that don't precisely follow the general conventions that we are using and are labelled - this could be useful for this case and others. Apart from that, maybe the Boxer and Mutual Protection areas could be shown in different shades of the Qing color to at least indicate that the areas aren't directly under Qing control. I seem to recall some color in the warlord color scheme for 'disloyal warlords' which could maybe be useful? Or maybe use the generic rebel color (wait, is that even a thing anymore? hell, was it ever actually a thing? if not, maybe replace it with generic white) outlined in the Qing color, and/or with dashed/barred coloring (not sure that's the right word, but basically how Anglo Egyptian Sudan is shown) with Qing and generic rebel or just generic white coloring
I'm not sure how much we could do with that, like in regards to showing the different stances of the Qing, Boxers, and Mutual Protection areas to the central government and to foreigners, and perhaps this is something where supplementary labelled maps with less rigid color schemes could be useful
And here's my attempt at contributing to the discussion...
View attachment 509296
I went with the Mutual Protection areas outlined with Qing protectorate/autonomy but filled with independent color to sort of show their being under control of the legitimate authorities but disloyal to the central government, and the Boxer areas outlined with the rebel color but fully filled with the protectorate color showing them as a rebellion/autonomous area but one that's working with and for the central government, a sort of loyalist revolt or whatever
Is the best way of showing it? Maybe not, someone else could probably come up with a better idea, but I think this could at least be a starting point
At any rate, the general idea of showing this stuff and at least the lack of direct Qing authority over these areas makes sense. It looks like the main reason for removing the boxers was them not being a revolt against the central government, and they were colored with the republican china color (unless that was actually the Qing dominion/darker color?) which made it look more separate from Qing, so showing it in one of the colors for Qing China could make more sense to both show the distinct factor of the rebellion and its area while also showing its aspect of being aligned with the Qing