So in the FIRST Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese military was in fact widely considered to be the favorite. Not only was it significantly larger, but the Northern Fleet had purchased several modern ships from the Western powers, including several pre-dreadnought battleships. However, the military forces themselves were an organizational disaster and stood little chance against the new but professional Japanese Army.

The Qing Army at the time of the Sino-Japanese War was known as the Huai Army. It was less an army and more a militia that had been previously deployed to suppress the Taiping Rebellion with some success. Varying levels of modernization took place in the army, which was often hampered by a mix of corruption, reactionary officers, and flat out incompetence and poor logistics.

Some of the more modern weapons in the Huai army arsenal included Western rifles and artillery. These varied from the German 1871 Mauser to French Fusil Gras, British Enfields, American Remington repeaters, to locally produced flintlocks and other obsolescent firearms. Some troops even carried spears and other melee weapons. There was also a limited number of Maxim machine guns purchased although these saw limited if any action.

In terms of artillery, there was a mess of artillery. This ranged from Armstrong guns used to protect coastal forts (such as one on Formosa) to Krupp guns and Hotchkiss light artillery pieces. Despite these modern weapons, or rather, because of the sheer amount of different types, these weapons were very ineffective. Chinese logistics, already of questionable value, were completely unable to handle the multiple supply constraints that all these different types of weapons required, and often times troops had no ammunition, powder, or shells. By comparison, the more uniform Japanese army, while it also had supply issues, at least had relatively fewer arms types and a semi-dedicated supply chain, to say nothing of naval domination.

In terms of the navy, the Chinese Northern fleet was quite modern. It had 2 German-built battleships and 8 cruisers as well as a small number of gunboats and torpedo boats. However, as above, since they not only had to deal with poor logistics, a multitude of foreign suppliers, and internal forces resisting modernization, the Chinese crews, although they outranged the Japanese, suffered from crew quality issues (due to lack of training) and lack of ammunition (which exacerbated the former). They also lacked the maneuverability of the Japanese cruisers, which gave the Japanese not only initiative but the ability to defeat the Chinese fleet in detail-which it accomplished at the Battle of the Yalu River.

I talk a bit about this here and here.