汉口军火交易活动肇始于晚清。伴随着汉口开埠洋货大量涌入,外国武器走私在汉口军火交易场中便开始扮演重要角色。军火交易创造的巨大利润空间,同时诱使民间私造私贩军火风气盛行,从中央到地方政府为此采取了一系列管控措施。湖北枪炮厂和汉阳兵工厂的创建,则展现了由官方主导下的军火交易行为,两厂凭借其首屈一指的生产能力,进一步促使汉口地区成为华中乃至全国的一大军火生产和交易场地。 Hankou arms trade started in the late Qing Dynasty. With the influx of foreign goods in Hankou, foreign arms smuggling began to play an important role in the Hankou Arms Exchange. A huge profit margin created by the arms trade and at the same time induced private smuggling of arms by private smugglers prevailed. From the central government to local governments, a series of control measures have been adopted for this purpose. The establishment of the Hubei Gunshan Factory and Hanyang Arsenal demonstrated the official arms trade by the government. With their premier production capabilities, the two factories further promoted Hankow to become a major arms manufacturing and trading venue in central China and the whole country.