The navy dispatched several gunboats to patrol the coast.
Tips
history
Closely associated with 炮舰外交 (pàojiàn wàijiāo) 'gunboat diplomacy' — the 19th-century Western practice of forcing trade and treaty concessions on Qing China by parking warships in Chinese harbors. The First Opium War (1840) is the textbook example.
memory
炮 (pào) 'cannon' + 舰 (jiàn) 'warship'. Distinguish from 军舰 (jūnjiàn) 'warship (general)' and 战舰 (zhànjiàn) 'battleship'.
