General Liu was a Chinese officer and weapons designer who was appointed head of the Hangyang Arsenal, where he began developing a self-loading rifle in , based on the Danish Bang muzzle gas-trap system. Prototypes of the Liu rifle were built at the Hangyang Arsenal and were tested successfully, but China lacked the means to mass-produce the weapon.
Instead General Liu came to USA a few years later and contracted an American company to produce the machinery necessary for mass-production, and Liu also brought some of the prototypes for testing in USA. Originally known as the Hubei Arsenal, it was founded in by Qing official Zhang Zhidong, who diverted funds from the Nanyang Fleet in Guangdong to build the arsenal. It cost about , pounds sterling and was built in 4 years.
On 23 April , construction was completed and the arsenal, occupying some 40 acres , m2 , could start production of small-caliber cannons. It built magazine-fed rifles, Gruson quick fire guns, and cartridges. The Republic of China expanded the arsenal numerous times, and production soared. Quality, however, remained low. In , a training school was established alongside the arsenal. In , the design of the Type 88 was once again modified, extending the bayonet.
Noyelles-sur-Mer is situated on the coast, facing the English Channel, on the D11 and D40 junction, some 13 kilometres 8 mi northwest of Abbeville. The French government also recruited a significant number of Chinese labourers, and although those labourers working for the French were recruited separately and not part of the CLC, the term is often used to encompass both groups. In all, some , men served for both British and French forces before the war ended and most of the men were repatriated to China between and The CLC did not directly perform in combat.
According to the records kept by the British and French recruiters, around 2, men of the CLC died during the war, many from the flu pandemic, with some Chinese scholars estimating the total could be as high as 20,, victims of shelling, landmines, poor treatment, or the disease.
