| dc.description.abstract | During 1875 –1881 the Qing Government underwent four major weapon purchase ;including 13 military vessels. Robert Hart—Inspector-General of Chinese Customs and James Duncan Campbell—Non-Resident Secretary of Customs (London Office) personally were engaged in this purchase. The main purpose of this paper is to review the process of this purchase ,including its motives,the choice of the vessels and the final decision of this purchase. .
The first purchase was triggered by the Japanese invasion of Taiwan in 1874. Instead of buying the Ironclad, four vessels of 300-400 tons gunboats were purchased due to budget shortage and lack of determination by the Qing. In 1878 Japan bought 3 Ironclads, triumphantly sailing back home from British, which triggered the Qing Government the second purchase of another 4 Gunboats. The third purchase was two newly-invented British cruiser ,which was initiated by the governor Li Hong-zhang, who was meant to have bought the Ironclad.
The fourth purchase, the last and the most particular one, was the purchase of another 3 Gunboats, which was not caused by foreign threats, but the domestic struggle,happening among the various governors during 1879 -1880.
Finally, in 1882 the Qing government sent military force to interfere the Korean turmoil , sending vessels to successfully deter the Japanese,which justified the purchase of the weapons as well.
Besides budget shortage , Robert Hart’s strong opposition was the other reason for not buying the Ironclad, which saved the Qing from wasting large amount of money. Actually, the highly-cost Ironclad, at that time, was still at the experimental stage And eventually doomed to failure. | en_US |