What a huge shipyard It is only yesterday when Jiangnan shipyard moved from Shanghai in 2010 And within 10 years, they magically converted a barren island Changxing into maybe the largest shipyard in the world. Jiangnan is the oldest shipyard in china here is interesting historically background
Kiangnan Arsenal
Gun transportation at Kiangnan Arsenal in
, during the
.
The origins of the Jiangnan Shipyard lie in the
of the late 19th century in China, during the
. The Self-Strengthening Movement (
: 洋務運動/自強運動/同治維新), c. 1861 – 1895, was a period of institutional reforms initiated in China during the late
following a series of military defeats and concessions to foreign powers. One of the projects in this campaign of modernisation was the establishment of defence industries, including the Kiangnan Arsenal in
in 1865 (the fourth year of the
). Plans for the arsenal were established under
, who served as
, although its actual establishment became the responsibilities of
.
The
name of the Kiangnan Arsenal was the General Bureau of Machine Manufacture of Jiangnan (
: 江南機器製造總局;
:
Jiāngnán Jīqì Zhìzào Zǒngjú), or the Jiangnan (or Kiangnan) Machine Works for short. It was established to both manufacture firearms and also build naval vessels. The shipyard, plant and machinery were initially leased from Thomas Hunt and Company, an American firm within the concessions of Shanghai. Due to the influx of workers and the reluctance of the concession authorities to allow arms to be manufactured within their territory, the Chinese authorities purchased the plant and equipment and combined these with the existing assets of the old Suzhou and Anqing arsenals as well as new equipment purchased by
in the United States to form the new Kiangnan Arsenal in 1865.
The Kiangnan Arsenal was the largest of the arsenals established during the Self-Strengthening Movement, and also the one with the largest budget—from 1869, its annual budget was more than 400,000 silver
. A series of high officials, including
,
, and
, served as its head, although
served the longest term during the
. Most of the senior technical staff were Westerners, such as the first chief engineer, American T. F. Falls, and prolific translator
.
During the Tongzhi era, the Arsenal was the largest weapons factory in
. Among its other achievements were the first domestically produced steam boat (the
Huiji) in 1868 and the first domestically produced steel in 1891.
As well as its manufacturing works, the Arsenal also comprised a language school, a translation house and a technical school.