Why the China Navy was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.

In fact, one of the essential reasons is the system, and the other is the mentality. The completely different attitudes of the ruling classes and nationals of the two countries towards the war led to the differences in the performance of the two countries in the war.

There is a lot of talk about the gap between feudal system and constitutional monarchy in history books, but in fact, although there was a parliament or something in Japan at that time, the emperor and several ministers were mainly in power, which was similar to China. However, Japan was United in expanding its army and preparing for war. The emperor took the lead in buying warships and building a navy from his own private money, and the whole country also cooperated with each other. And China was the Empress Dowager Cixi who took the lead to pay for the construction of the garden from the military expenses. In addition, the officialdom in China was in conflict with each other, the Manchu nobles and the Han bureaucrats were suspicious of each other, and the strength of the Han bureaucrats was also at odds (Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong, Li Hongzhang and Weng Tongsu, etc.), so it was impossible to concentrate on preparing for the war.

Weng Tongshu and Li Hongzhang have a deep grudge, but the Qing government appointed Weng as the minister of the Ministry of Housing for Li Hongzhang. As a result, during his tenure, Weng Tongshu repeatedly embarrassed Li Hongzhang on naval military expenses. Due to various factors, Beiyang Navy did not fill new warships for ten years, and there was little live-fire training. Many coal and ammunition were inferior products. Even many fuses used in wartime shells were cinders and gunpowder was sand.

As for the Beiyang Navy, there are also many factions. In order to firmly control the navy, Li Hongzhang was crony. Ding Ruchang was originally a land general, but he was sent to command the Navy because he was a general of the Huai Army. And Liu Buchan is proficient in naval warfare, but he has no real power, because he is from Fujian Mawei Shipping Bureau. In fact, many Beiyang generals are extremely talented, but they are not reused because they are not from Huai Army.

all kinds of institutional factors are reflected in the battlefield, that is, the Yellow Sea naval battle ended in defeat in Beiyang, but a Japanese warship was not sunk, and then it was stopped in Liu Gongdao, blocked by the Japanese army, captured and sunk.

And their attitudes towards war are quite different. The front-line generals of Beiyang Navy know that Japan should prepare for the expansion of the imaginary enemy in China, and there will be a war between China and Japan; However, Li Hongzhang expected that the war would not happen, or that it would only be a small fight but not a big fight, and even hoped for the mediation of western powers. In fact, Japan has put the fate of the whole country on the navy, and both countries have no choice but to die. As for China citizens, they are in a state of ignorance. One side fought to the death, but the other side balked, looked back and even became insensitive, and the result was naturally clear at a glance.