3-074-569 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Chinese war preparations: overhauling a gun-boat at Shanghai, 1883. 'It ought to be made generally known, and the information should tend to moderate French counsels in the pending dispute with China, that the naval and military forces of the Chinese Empire have of late years been improved by the adoption of modern scientific methods and appliances, especially for defensive warfare, calculated to resist the attack even of a Great European Power. We present a Sketch, taken at Shanghai, two or three years ago, by our own Artist, showing a Chinese gun-boat during the process of overhauling for repairs; but, while China has a small though efficient fleet of vessels of war, including several ironclads, turret-ships, and steam-rams, carrying heavy guns, her extensive torpedo establishment might prove the most effectual means of coast defence'. From "Illustrated London News", 1883.