In its later years, the Qing dynasty (1644-1912) underwent a military modernization that was both tortuous and slow and never found a distinct approach that suited its development. Such a situation resulted from a number of factors, including what might be seen as the dynasty's backwardness and the defects in its mind-set and perceptions, as well as constraining international conditions, all of which shaped the landscape of China's military modernization in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although a considerable amount of research has reflected on China's military modemization in the late Qing, most is generalist and broad based, and there are few case studies, particularly the kind that takes a unique perspective, elaborates from the specific to the panoramic, and specializes in a given aspect. Fortunately, this situation is changing: some promising young specialists bringing to the field a wider viewpoint have already engaged in such studies and have produced marvelous results. Lie Sun's Germany's Krupp and Late @ing Dynasty Chinese Artillery is a good representative of such studies.
