Foochow Arsenal
Template:Short description Template:Chinese The Foochow Arsenal, also known as the Fuzhou or Mawei Arsenal, was one of several shipyards created by the Qing Empire and a flagship project of French assistance to China during the Self-Strengthening Movement.[1] The shipyard was constructed under orders from Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang and was situated in Mawei (Template:Zh, romanized as Mamoi in that period), a port town within the jurisdiction of Fuzhou fu (then romanized as "Foochow"), which is several miles up the Min River.[2][3]
History
Planning for the shipyard, the Fuzhou Naval College (t Script error: No such module "Lang"., s Script error: No such module "Lang"., p Chuánzhèng Xuétáng, w Ch'uan-cheng Hsüeh-t'ang), and other facilities began in 1866.[4] Construction began in 1867. Two French Naval officers, Prosper Giquel and Paul d'Aiguebelle, both on leave from the French Imperial Navy, were contracted to recruit a staff of about forty European engineers and mechanics, and to oversee the construction of a metal-working forge, the creation of a Western-style naval dockyard, the construction of eleven transports and five gunboats, and the establishment of schools for training in navigation and marine engineering—all within a five-year period.[5][6][7]Template:Sfn Chinese authorities provided the materials and labour,[8] with the number of labourers rising from an initial figure of 1,600 to more than 2,000 by 1872.[9] The operating cost over five years was estimated at 3 million taels of silver, and the cost of maintenance of the ships produced was partly funded by revenue from duties on the import of opium.[10] The first ship produced at the Arsenal, the 150-horsepower Qing Forever (t Script error: No such module "Lang"., s Script error: No such module "Lang"., p Wànnián Qīng, w Wan-nien Ch'ing), was launched in June 1869.[11]
The shipyard was severely damaged by French forces in 1884 during the Sino-French War of 1883–1885,[12] in the battle of Fuzhou. A modern shipyard was later rebuilt on the site.[13]
Script error: No such module "wide image".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
See also
- Chen Jitong, shipbuilder and diplomat trained at the Foochow Arsenal
- Hanyang Arsenal
- Taiyuan Arsenal
- Great Hsi-Ku Arsenal
- Jiangnan Shipyard
Notes
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Seltzer 1952, 1133.
- ↑ Hong Kong Port and Maritime Board.
- ↑ Shi, Xuanzhi. 2019. “The Roots of Bilingual Education in China: The Educational Practices of Fujian Naval College in the Late Qing Period, 1866-1911.” Language & History 62 (2): 119–39. doi:10.1080/17597536.2019.1641955.
- ↑ Pong 1987, 123
- ↑ Thomson 1982, vol II, pl. XV
- ↑ Viénet 2002.
- ↑ Pong 1987, 123.
- ↑ Pong 1987, 144.
- ↑ Pong 1987, 124, 127.
- ↑ Pong 1987, 127.
- ↑ Viénet 2002.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
References
- Hong Kong Port and Maritime Board. "Chinese Ports 1996: Fuzhou; Harbour Plan". Accessed 26 September 2002.
- Template:Cite EB1911
- Pong, David. "Keeping the Foochow Navy Yard Afloat: Government Finance and China's Early Modern Defence Industry, 1866-75". In Modern Asian Studies, vol. 21, no. 1 (Cambridge University Press, 1987).
- Seltzer, Leon E., ed. The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World (New York: Columbia University Press, 1952).
- Thomson, John. China and its People in Early Photographs: An Unabridged Reprint of the Classic 1873/4 Work (reprint, New York: Dover Publications, 1982).
- Viénet, René. L'épisode français peu connu des Pescadores. Accessed 24 September 2002.
