Warship Dreams on Ma Jiang: Digital Perspectives on the Modern Enlightenment and Spatial Evolution of Mawei Shipyard Industry
Do you know where China’s first steam-powered warship was built? Not Shanghai. Not Tianjin. It was Mawei, Fuzhou — a tiny, unremarkable town in the 1860s. In 1869, a warship called Wannian Qing was launched here. Displacement: 1,370 tons. When the news reached Beijing, it shook the imperial court. Because before that day, every warship China owned had been bought from foreigners. I’m Chuke. Today I want to flip through some yellowed Fuzhou gazetteers and tell you the story of a small town that built 34 warships in 34 years. ...