Zhili Province
Concerned about the rising power of Imperial Russia and Japan, Li Hongzhang, Viceroy of Zhili Province, and generally responsible for relations with Russia, Korea and Japan had begun a program of gradually expanding the Beiyang Fleet after the 1874 Japanese reprisal expedition to Taiwan. An 1880 order for two s from the German Empire capped the program as neither the Imperial Russian Navy nor the IJN could match them once they were delivered.