When "Jiyuan" was originally ordered by the Imperial Chinese Navy, she was to be the third ironclad battleship built by AG Vulcan Stettin in Stettin, Germany. The Chinese had been seeking larger warships from British shipyards, but negotiations had stalled. They turned instead to German shipyards, who the Chinese managed to negotiate a deal with. The orders for the three ironclads were placed following the construction of the German . Due to funding issues, she was instead reduced in size to that of a protected cruiser, and the planned build of up to a dozen ships were reduced to just those three.