Viceroy of Zhili
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.