Hai Yung was a protected cruiser

Protected cruiser

The protected cruiser is a type of naval cruiser of the late 19th century, so known because its armoured deck offered protection for vital machine spaces from shrapnel caused by exploding shells above...

 of the Chinese Navy

Chinese Navy

Two modern navies have been known in English as the Chinese Navy:* People's Liberation Army Navy* Republic of China NavyFor Chinese navies before 1912, see:*Imperial Chinese Navy*Naval history of China...

. The Hai Yung was one of a class of three ships built in Germany for the Chinese after the losses of the First Sino-Japanese War

First Sino-Japanese War

The First Sino-Japanese War was fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Japan, primarily over control of Korea...

. The ship was a small protected cruiser with quick-firing guns, a departure from the prewar Chinese navy’s emphasis on heavy but slow-firing weapons for its cruisers. The Hai Yung resembled the British protected cruisers of the Apollo class

Apollo class cruiser

The Apollo class were a class of second-class protected cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the late 19th century that served during the Boer War and World War I....

 and Italian Liguria class, and may have been modeled on the similar Dutch Gelderland-class cruisers. Germany itself would increase the number of similar ships for its own navy starting with the Gazelle class

Gazelle class cruiser

The Gazelle class was a group of ten light cruisers built for the German Imperial Navy at the turn of the 20th century. Three were lost during the First World War; the remainder were removed from the front lines after the Battle of Jutland...

 and its faster successors up until World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

In 1906 the Hai Yung was sent on a six-month journey to survey the conditions of overseas Chinese communities in South-East Asia. Much of the navy switched loyalties to the rebellion that overthrew the Manchu dynasty in 1911. The Hai Yung and its sister ships survived the revolution

Xinhai Revolution

The Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, also known as Revolution of 1911 or the Chinese Revolution, was a revolution that overthrew China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing , and established the Republic of China...

 and were obsolete by the time of the Second Sino-Japanese War

Second Sino-Japanese War

The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...

. The Hai Yung along with her sister ships were designated to be scuttled as river blockship

Blockship

A blockship is a ship deliberately sunk to prevent a river, channel, or canal from being used.It may either be sunk by a navy defending the waterway to prevent the ingress of attacking enemy forces, as in the case of HMS Hood at Portland Harbour; or it may be brought by enemy raiders and used to...

s in 1937.