The Hanyang Arsenal was one of the most ambitious industrial projects of late-Qing China — a state-owned weapons manufacturing complex established in 1890 that at its peak employed thousands of workers and produced artillery, rifles, and ammunition for the imperial army. The complex sat at the heart of what was then called "China's Birmingham" — the Wuchang-Hankou-Hanyang industrial triangle that represented the country's attempt to build a modern industrial base in the late nineteenth century.
The site, in Guishan park near the confluence of the Han River and Yangtze, has been partially preserved and developed as a heritage area. The original factory buildings — massive brick structures in a Victorian industrial style that was as modern as anything being built in Germany at the time — now house museums, galleries, and cultural facilities. The combination of the architectural heritage and the industrial-historical narrative makes it a worthwhile complement to the nearby Wuchang Uprising Memorial, which tells what happened when the guns this factory made were turned against the dynasty that built it.