Naval history of China
Videos
The naval history of China dates back thousands of years, with archives existing since the late Spring and Autumn period regarding the Chinese navy and the various ship types employed in wars. The Min
Legend: "The great ships full of boys and girls sent in search of the immortal medicine (Hôraizan) by the Chinese Emperor Shih Huang Ti (Shikôtei), c. 219 BCE". A 19th century ukiyo-e by Kuniyoshi depicting the ships of the great sea expedition sent around 219 BC by the first Chinese Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, to find the legendary home of the immortals, the Mount Penglai, and retrieve the elixir of immortality.
A Song dynasty junk ship, 13th century; Chinese ships of the Song period featured hulls with watertight compartments.
Chinese sailors from the Hai Chi, of the Imperial Chinese Navy.
Sa Zhenbing
The Battle of the Yalu River was the largest naval engagement of the First Sino-Japanese War, and took place on 17 September 1894, the day after the Japanese victory at the land Battle of Pyongyang. T
Japanese troops firing at Qing ships at the Battle of the Yellow Sea, Kobayashi Kiyochika
Illustration from the French newspaper Le Petit Journal, showing survivors from Kowshing being rescued by sailors from the French ship Le Lion
![Japanese print depicting Matsushima (left) attacking Chinese warships, Shunsai Toshimasa [ja], 1894](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Kobayashi_Sojiro_-_Waga_kantai_daishori_-_Kaiyoto_oki_ni_tekikan_o_uchishizumu_-_Walters_95688.jpg/500px-Kobayashi_Sojiro_-_Waga_kantai_daishori_-_Kaiyoto_oki_ni_tekikan_o_uchishizumu_-_Walters_95688.jpg)
Japanese print depicting Matsushima (left) attacking Chinese warships, Shunsai Toshimasa [ja], 1894
The Japanese warship Saikyōmaru at the Battle of the Yalu River, Hasegawa Chikuyō, 1894