 She arrived in Chinese waters in late September, and was assigned to the blockade of the mouth of the Yangtze. She spent the period from 14 February to 3 March 1901 in the German concession at Tsingtao, after which she returned to the Yangtze. The blockade of the river ended in June, and on 10 June she returned to Tsingtao. From 4 September to 11 November, she underwent an overhaul in Shanghai. She then returned to Tsingtao and the Yangtze area, before riots in Zhejiang province forced her to steam to Ningpo to assist in suppressing the unrest on 9 April 1902. On 16 April, she left for repairs at Shanghai. On 23 July, while Schwalbe was moored in Tsingtao, she received the order to return to Germany. On 16 August, she departed Tsingtao and arrived in Danzig on 10 December. There, she was decommissioned a second time three days later. Another lengthy overhaul followed, which lasted from 1903 to 1905 at the Kaiserliche Werft in Danzig.
