The Beiyang Fleet was one of the four modernized Chinese navies in the late Qing dynasty. Among the four, the Beiyang Fleet was particularly sponsored by Li Hongzhang, one of the most trusted vassals of Empress Dowager Cixi and the principal patron of the "self-strengthening movement" in northern China in his capacity as the Viceroy of Zhili and the Minister of Beiyang Commerce. Due to Li's influence in the imperial court, the Beiyang Fleet garnered much greater resources than the other Chinese fleets and soon became the dominant navy in Asia before the onset of the 1894–1895 First Sino-Japanese War. It was the largest fleet in Asia and the 8th in the world during the late 1880s in terms of tonnage.

It was necessary for a modern fleet to possess fortified dockyards and bases for the maintenance and repair of ships of that navy. Li Hongzhang endeavoured therefore to create the necessary support needed for the fleet. The remit of the Beiyang fleet was the protection of the coastal waters between the mouth of the Yalu river and the bay of Jiaozhou a large section of the coastline and an important one as it guarded the Bohai bay and therefore the approaches to Tianjin and the capital Beijing. Li decided to fortify the ports of Lushunkou, Weihaiwei and Tianjin that formed a triangle within the Bohai bay.