Building the Beiyang Fleet and Taiwan Province

From the 1870s China’s southeast coast was seriously threatened by the powers. In 1874 Japan sent troops against Taiwan, and in 1884, in the Sino-French War, the French fleet nearly wiped out the Fujian Fleet at the Battle of Mawei, exposing the weakness of China’s coastal defense. At the urging of Li Hongzhang, Governor-General of Zhili and Superintendent of Trade for the Northern Ports, and others, the Qing began large-scale modern coastal defense building. In 1885 it set up the Admiralty Office under Prince Chun Yixuan, with Li Hongzhang assisting. It ordered many warships from Britain and Germany, among them the ironclads Dingyuan and Zhenyuan built in Germany, then among the largest in Asia, and built naval bases and forts at Lüshun and Weihaiwei. In 1888 the Beiyang Fleet was formally established with Ding Ruchang as admiral and more than twenty ships, called “first in Asia.” By the 1880s the Fujian, Guangdong, Nanyang and Beiyang fleets were roughly in place, the Beiyang being the largest. But the Qing then diverted naval funds to build the Summer Palace, and after 1888 the fleet bought no new ships and gradually fell behind Japan’s navy. Taiwan was a shield for the southeast coast. In the Sino-French War the French attacked Keelung and Tamsui and were driven back by troops and civilians under Liu Mingchuan. Recognizing Taiwan’s importance, in 1885 the Qing made it a province with Liu Mingchuan as first governor. He reorganized its defenses, built railways, strung telegraph lines and founded new schools and a postal service, making Taiwan one of China’s more advanced provinces.