Li Hung-chang and the Peiyang Navy

Abstract

After the Opium War (1839-42), the Chinese literati-officials realized that it was impossible for China to defend herself against the Western maritime powers without a strong and modernized navy. The establishment of a modern navy became an urgent and persistent concern in China's struggle to Westernize. Lin Tse-hsu (1785-1850) was the prominent Chinese official who realized the importance of building up such a navy during his painful encounter with the British over the opium issue. He once proposed to use the excise tax revenue of Kwangtung Province to purchase Western guns and ships as a first step toward modernizing the Chinese navy.1 Unfortunately, his proposal was rejected by Emperor Hsuan-tsung and was of no avail. Wei Yuan (1794-1857), Lin's good friend, brought up the issue in his Hai-kuo t'u-chih (Illustrated gazetteer of the maritime countries) and urged the authorities concerned to build state-run shipyards and arsenals to make guns, cannon, and vessels at Sand Point (Sha-chiao) and Big Point (...