Hanyang Iron Works was founded in 189 1 year and completed and put into operation in 1894. It was the earliest government-run iron and steel enterprise in modern China, seven years earlier than the first modern Japanese steel joint venture, Bagan Iron Works, and its scale was second to none in Asia at that time. Hanyang Iron Works was built by Zhang Zhidong, Governor of Huguang. Due to China's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, in order to raise war reparations, the Qing government changed the iron works into an official-supervised commercial office on1April 1996/1,and the contractor was Sheng Xuanhuai. 1On March 26th, 908, Hanyang Iron Works, Daye Iron Mine and Pingxiang Coal Mine merged to form Hanyeping Coal and Iron Works and Mines Co., Ltd., which was changed into a fully commercial company with Sheng Xuanhuai as the Prime Minister. Hanyeping Company was the largest steel complex in Asia at that time. On the eve of the Revolution of 1911, the annual output reached 70,000 tons of steel and 500,000 tons of iron ore, with more than 7,000 workers, and the steel output accounted for 90% of the national output. After the establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC), Hanyang Iron Works became a part of Wuhan Iron and Steel Company.