As part of his drive to create a modern navy, Viceroy Li Hongzhang turned to shipbuilders in Great Britain and Germany for the latest technology. After extensive negotiations, a contract valued at 1.7 million taels of silver (6.2 million German Goldmark) was signed with the German Vulcan shipyards in Stettin to build an enlarged version of their Sachsen-class armoured frigates, which in terms of displacement, armour and armament would raise the Beiyang Fleet to an equal status with the fleets of the European powers stationed in the Far East. The keel was laid on 31 March 1881, and the ship launched on 28 December 1881, under the supervision of the Qing Envoy to Germany, Xu Jingcheng. Sea trials began on 2 May 1883.