晚清海軍的建設中，側重北洋海軍，南洋海軍一直比較落後。張之洞 (1837-1909)在兩度署理兩江總督兼南洋大臣期間，利用種種機會，力圖推動南洋海軍的發展。甲午戰爭期間，他力主買船購艦，並一度謀劃攻日保臺；甲午戰後，在貝斯福 (Lord CharlesBeresford, 1846-1919) 訪華時，他大力宣導發展海軍，主張借助外國勢力訓練新兵。但由於種種原因，他的購船計畫一直未獲成功。直到清末新政時期，他終於力排眾議，克服種種困難，成功地同日本達成協定，訂購新式淺水炮艦「江元」號，使得南洋海軍發展向前邁進了一大步。

In the course of developing their maritime power during the late Qing Dynasty,the Nanyang Navy 南洋海軍 (Southern Ocean Fleet) had been relatively backwardcompared to the Beiyang Navy 北洋海軍 (Northern Ocean Fleet). Zhang Zhidong張之洞 was twice appointed Viceroy of the Southern Yangtse River Region and theMinister of Nanyang. Throughout his service, he made every effort to promote theNanyang Navy. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, he advocated purchasingwarships from different sources and was planning to rescue Taiwan by attacking Japan.After the war, when Lord Charles Beresford visited China, Zhang stressed theimportance of expanding China’s maritime power and of building a modern army.Although his ship acquisition plan during the first Sino-Japanese War had failed, alongwith the implementation of the so-called New Policy after 1901, Zhang finally reachedan agreement with a Japanese company to import a new gunboat (the Jiang-yuan 江元gunboat) and pushed forward the development of the Nanyang Navy.