Chinese Navy Reconstruction Study After The Sino-Japanese War (1895-1911)

The Sino Japanese war of 1894-1895 had an important influence to the history of the Chinese modern navy. The Beiyang fleet that Chinese modernization degree highest and the largest fleet had annihilated in this war, caused a heavy blow to the development of Chinese modern navy. After the Sino Japanese War, private and government both had extensive discussion and reflection for the construction of the navy, the post-war Navy reconstruction also made some achievements. At present, the academic circles concern for the modern navy mainly concentrated in the period before the Sino Japanese War of 1894-1895 rather than the period during the Sino Japanese War to the end of Qing Dynasty. This paper treats the development of navy after the Sino Japanese War as the research object and intends to make a dynamic investigation and analysis from two aspects of post-war public opinion and reconstruction measures in the navy construction in this period.China's naval modernization started in the period of Westernization Movement and had built Beiyang navy, Southeast navy, Fujian navy three main naval until the Sino Japanese War of 1894-1895. The scale once reached the forefront of the world. But fujian navy has been hit in the Sino French war, the Beiyang navy was annihilated in the Sino Japanese War. Then the Qing government abolished the Navy office, brought the Chinese Navy a severe blow. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, western countries raised the frenzy of carving up China. Under the background of the deepening of national crisis, the reconstruction of the navy has been put on the agenda.At the end of nineteenth Century, the theory of sea power was introduced into China, which prompted the awakening of the consciousness of sea rights. People wanted to rebuild the Navy. Zheng Guanying and others responded to the debate about coastal defense and Land defense and put forward some suggestions on the reconstruction of the Navy. At the same time the western media had more attention for the development of China's navy. At the government level, the Sino Japanese War launched a fierce debate on coastal defense strategy in Qing government. Yao Xiguang of military training place put forward the "Crash program" and "Long term plan" two strategies for the post-war naval construction. The British William Metcalfe Lang who had served in the Beiyang Navy also put forward the "self-hold" and "revenge" plan. Yuan Shikai was trying to protect and promote the dismissed admiral in the Sino Japanese War. Zaixun,the navy minister at the end of the Qing Dynasty Participated in the formulation of the "Seven Year Plan" of rebuilt Navy and made an important contribution to the construction of the naval port of Xiangshan. In general, the mainstream public opinion of the government and the folk people both wanted to rebuild the navy and put forward their own proposals.In terms of the concrete measures for the reconstruction of the Navy, the Qing government added naval office in the army department in 1907. Then the Qing government set up the special department of the navy in 1910, which was separated from the army department. This measure marked the navy was no longer a subordinate to the army and became an independent military force that equal with the army. After the Sino Japanese War, the Qing government had two large-scale purchases of warships; domestic shipyards also created some shallow water ship. The Qing government built an ocean fleet and a Changjiang fleet with these ships and the original ships. The integration and reorganization of the navy ship was in order to facilitate the unified management of the central. At the same time, the Qing government also actively restored Navy education by developing the navy school and Restoring to send navy students go abroad. On the choice of study location, Japan was more popular than Europe in this period. There had been a trend of study in Japan.In short, the Navy construction achievements of this period were remarkable. The Navy at that time was restored and developed to a certain extent. But there were some limitations in this process. For example, some policies had not really been implemented. There was lack a unified and long-term plan for the purchase of ships and personnel education. The reasons for these limitations could be seen from the subjective view and objective view. Objectively speaking, the industrial base was too weak at that time; the starting point of the Navy reconstruction was too low. And the government's financial support was difficult. From the subjective perspective, the Qing government paid more attention to the study at the technical level from the west and ignored the construction of naval strategy and military theory. But the more profound reason was that the Qing government lost the confidence of constructing naval power after the Sino Japanese War of 1894-1895 and turned to the pursuit of coastal defense. This was the most important reason that leaded to the limitations of Navy construction in the late Qing Dynasty.These limitations also made the development of Chinese Navy fell behind the world gradually. The discussion on the development of Chinese navy in that period still had certain reference significance for today's navy construction.