Qing vs japan

In Japan-Qing war, history is rewritten as decaying Qing inevitably destined to be beaten by Japan by monday morning quarterbacks. In reality, before war, many westerners & Qing thought they would win, the Beiyang fleet was seen as more than a match for J navy. China, it was widely and confidently asserted, could absorb Japanese armies as she would a duststorm. They must simply melt away, leaving their island homes. In Europe, numbers were still believed to be decisive: China was big, therefore it would win. The Chinese navy possessed twice as many warships, the best two of which were superior in armaments and armor to anything possessed by Japan, and its naval bases were nearer the war theater.