This book includes four essays, discussing the understanding and copying of steamships among the Chinese resulting from the Opium War, from the failure and lessons learned the first time China tried to purchase a steamship fleet from abroad, examining the advocacy of steamship shipping in China and the causes of the repeated failures, as well as investigating the establishment of the China Merchants Steamship Navigation Co., Ltd, and its operation by businessmen overseen by officials. The book also discusses regional and central rights related to the establishment of the China Merchants Steamship Navigation Co and the system of commercial administration with official oversight, among other problems.