[1][2] Yuyuen and her sister ship Haian were the largest vessels built in China until the cruiser Ping Hai in 1931.

The propulsion system consisted of a 1,750 indicated horsepower (1,300 kilowatts) reciprocating engine with a single shaft, enabling a cruising speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).

Furthermore, due to the use of low quality pine from Oregon and Vancouver in the construction of the vessels meant that the timbers were showing obvious signs of rot after a few months of use.

[5] The ships left Shanghai in December 1884, making slow progress south as the crew were trained en route.

The French fleet saw the distance gathering between Yuyuen and the rest of the Chinese ships and sought to exploit this by moving in-between.

Yuyuen soon lost sight of the Chinese cruisers in the poor weather, and Admiral Wu on Teng Ch'ing realised that his vessel could not keep up either.

[8][7][9] The cutters closed so near to Yuyuen that the chief engineer was able to reach over the side and hit a French sailor with his gun sponge.

[8] American adviser L. C. Arlington was stationed on Yuyuen at the time, and later reported the chaotic scene as the ship was attacked.

At no point had there been any attempt by the Chinese to fend off the French cutters, with the shore batteries only firing after the attack on Yuyuen.

Local villagers had already begun looting the vessel, having cut away topsail from the mizzen-mast and were in the process of removing the spinnaker and retrieving one of the ship's hatches.