一八七五年起，清政府以南北洋為中心大辦海防，在隨後二十年的發展中，實以北洋為重，然甲午一役，北洋海軍慘遭敗北，直接影響了中國近代化的歷程及中華民族的歷史命運。海防經費是海防建設的物質基礎，中國學術界在探討北洋海防建設失利原因時，對海防經費的總數多有關注，但先前研究因資料所限等種種因素，只注意到了北洋海防經費例行報銷案、主力艦船購置經費另銷案、主力艦船常年經費報銷案及旅順船塢修築經費另銷案的數額，至少還遺漏了「龍驤」等四蚊船購置費用、「鎮中」和「鎮邊」二蚊船購置費用、大沽等處炮臺修築費用、營口炮臺修築費用、威海衛大連灣軍港修築費用、膠州灣煙臺炮臺修築費用等等。而且，這些研究中，經費籌措過程的敘述較為簡略，部分數據係為大概的估算，少量數據的處理也非十分妥當。這些都是本文力圖補充、加強的地方。本文所依據的主要資料，為新刊《李鴻章全集》及中國第一歷史檔案館等地收藏的未刊清宮檔案文獻。通過對這些第一手資料的充分挖掘、梳理，本文一方面儘可能準確、具體地揭示北洋海防經費每筆進款的數額及二十年的總收數，另一方面詳盡闡述每筆收數背後的籌措歷程。本文通過研究發現：自一八七五年至一八九四年，北洋收受海防專款有限，在俄國、日本等國挑起的海疆危機及種種因素促使下，清政府又湊撥了大量海防雜款，以購置艦船、修築海軍要塞等。北洋海防經費總數共達4321萬餘兩，數額不謂不鉅，但僅為同時期日本海軍經費的一半左右。而且，這些經費大多臨事湊撥，沒有統一的長達規劃，或來源有限，難以為海防建設提供長久而穩定的經費支持。經費的保障不力是甲午一役北洋海軍敗北的重要原因。

Starting in 1875, the Qing government put great effort into the construction of coastal defenses, focusing on Beiyang and Nanyang, and in fact, Beiyang was the primary focus from 1875 to 1894. The defeat of the Beiyang Fleet in the first Sino-Japanese War directly affected China's modernization agenda and the fate of the Chinese nation. Because the funds were the material basis for coastal defense construction, previous scholarship in China has also paid attention to the total amount of coastal defense funds when exploring the causes of the failure of the Beiyang Fleet. However, limited by its sources, previous scholarship has not considered the money used for purchasing six gunboats and expenditure on the coastal forts in the Weihai, Jiaozhou, Yingkou, Dagu, etc. Furthermore, this research has not seriously considered the process of raising coastal defense funds, and has failed to properly handle some data.Drawing upon the newly published ”The Complete Works of Li Hongzhang” and relevant unpublished archival sources in the First Historical Archives of China in Beijing, this article delineates the amount of each levy (as well as the total amount of coastal defense funds) during these two decades and the processes of collecting the levies.This article demonstrates that Beiyang continually suffered from a very tight budget from 1875 to 1894. In response to the aggressive maritime policies of Russia and Japan in the period, the Qing government levied miscellaneous funds from different sources in order to purchase new ships and reinforce coastal forts. Beiyang's coastal defense funds totaled 43.21 million taels of silver-around half of the Japanese navy's expenditures. Because most of these funds were raised ad hoc in the face of crisis and the government did not establish a regular mechanism to raise funds, the government failed to provide stable financial support for Chinese coastal defense construction. The shortage of coastal defense funds was a key factor that caused the humiliating defeat of the Beiyang Fleet in the first Sino-Japanese War.