Editor's note: Fujian Navy Yard and Fujian Naval Academy were established in 1866, in Mawei, Fuzhou, the coastal capital of Fujian, a province located in China's Southeast. The establishment of these facilities was Chinese people's means to explore ways of catching up with the West as well as defending China's maritime sovereignty in the mid-19th century. The construction of the Fujian Navy Yard and Fujian Naval Academy involved contributions from a number of foreigners, French technicians in particular. These contributions ranged from importing advanced ship making technologies to training Chinese engineers.

A map of the shipyard site drawn in the 1870s is displayed in the Museum of Foochow Arsenal 1866 on May 14, 2024. In the summer of 1866, Zuo Zongtang, then governor-general of Fujian-Zhejiang, selected Fuzhou as the shipyard site for the facilities, after conducting a lot of field surveys with two French officers, Prosper Marie Giquel and Paul Alexandre d'Aigwebelle. The construction plan was jointly formulated by both the Chinese and French sides. (Photo by Huang Shan/China.org.cn)