He was a high-ranking officer of the Beiyang Fleet, he was the captain of the protective cruiser Jiyuan during the First Sino-Japanese War, but was executed after the Battle of the Yalu River for desertion.

In 1877, the Qing government sent Fang Boqian to study abroad in Europe aboard the Square HakuKen for the United Kingdom at the Old Royal Naval College where he learned a high degree of voyage surgery enrolled in October 1877, and returned in May 1880.

[2] Meanwhile, in 1878, Captain Nathaniel Bowden-Smith under the command of Bacchante-class corvette HMS Euryalus[3] boarded the ship which was headed for the Indian Ocean, from August 4, 1879.

Ding Ruchang, along with Captain Fang Boqian of "Jiyuan", escorted transport ships such as "Aijin" and "Flying Whale" and headed for Asan.

At around 3:30 pm, Captain Fang Boqian of Jiyuan left the battlefield and returned to Lushun, saying, "The ship was severely damaged, the bow was cracked and flooded, the gun could not be used, and it needed to be repaired.

In the early morning of September 24, 1894, while the Beiyang Fleet soldiers were still asleep, the Qing government sentenced Fang Boqian to be beheaded for desertion when he was 40 years old.