In the 1880s, the development of equipment and organization of the Qing army was far worse than their opponent. If we take a look at the army's quality of both sides, it's obvious that the French outmatched the Chinese. While the Qing army did not acquire advanced weapons, professional soldiers, effective administration, and communication systems, the Chinese could not avoid but bear heavy casualties in both land and naval battles. However, the result and the Qing army's performance in the Sino-French war is considered as one of the best in Late-Qing foreign conflicts.
In the navy aspect, after two opium wars, the Qing government recognized that they need a strong navy to protect themselves from the enemy that came from the sea. In the mid-1860s, Zuo Zongtang suggested and started the creation of the Foochow navy arsenal. And France was the biggest cooperation partner in the whole plan. Several naval officers, teachers, skillful engineers were sent to Foochow to assist the modernization of the Chinese navy. The Sino-French war, unfortunately, broke the relation between two countries and brought them in war. Though the Qing received a lot of help from European countries, they still no match for France in terms of size, speed, materials, firepower. When the French took their armor-plated battleship to China coast, the Fujian fleet, mostly made by wood, was annihilated in the battle of Mawei. In the battle of Shipu, the French gained another victory. The most brilliant performance of the Qing's navy was the defense of Foochow Arsenal. With the clever use of naval mine, they managed to prevent the Foochow Arsenal from destroyed after the fatal loss in the battle of Mawei. With the arsenal protected, the Qing government remained the ability to repair and rebuild their navy after the war.
In the land battles, the French's artilleries and guns were the Chinese's nightmare. In the 1880s, most of the firearm of the Qing army were muzzleloaders, while the French army had already invented and introduced breech-loading weapons. When they confronted each other, the French army could have more advantages on the battlefield because of the longer shooting range and greater damage. For example, in the Bac Ninh campaign, the threat of the artillery force led to low morale in Chinese troops. And of course, they perfectly outflanked the Chinese. Moreover, the poor army management also became weak points of the Qing army. Based on the official records of France, it is clear that the French troops had a better division of labor. We can sure that the French commander had clear cognition on the army's daily activities and supplies data. After a battle, whether they won or lost, the generals would hold a post-battle conference and conclude the battle record, which immediately sent to HQ. Yet, we could not find any aforementioned features in the Qing army.
Undoubtedly, the Chinese army and navy were inferior to the French. But they still put a good fight in several battles and benefit the peace talks. The Qing army tried different methods to reduce the power difference, such as choosing a favorable location, outnumber their enemy, take advantage of enemies' overconfident. The Qing army succeeded to defend Kelang in the first battle of Kelang. They stopped the landing operation of the French in the battle of Tamsui. And the most famous victory of the Qing army was the battle of Bang Bo(Zhennan Pass). All these victories let the Qing's representative obtained a stronger standpoint during the peace conference.
On 9 June 1885, Qing and France signed the "Treaty of Tientsin". According to the treaty, China did not need to cede any land or pay any war reparation. The rarely seen result boosted the morale and dignity of Chinese to a certain extent. Though many people did not satisfied with the content of the "Treaty of Tientsin". People still recognized the Sino-French war as a successful experience, it proved that the Chinese had a chance to stand against the Europeans. Before the Sino-Japanese war, the Sino-French war was the most important reference among officials and scholars.
Sources
黃振南(Huang Zhen-nan)：《中法戰爭諸役考》(A Study on Battles in The Sino-French war)，廣西師範大學出版社，1998年6月
林慶元(Lin Qing-yuan)：《福建船政局史稿》(History of The Foochow Arsenal)，福建人民出版社，1992年12月
中國史學會主編（Association of Chinese Historians）：《中法戰爭》(Collection of Materials on Modern Chinese History, The Sino-French War)，上海人民出版社，1957年6月
張佩綸(Zhang Pei-lun)：《澗于集》(Collection of Zhang Pei-lun's work)，愛如生中國基本古籍庫，民國十五年澗于草堂刻本
石泉(Shi Quan)：《甲午戰爭前後的晚清政局》(Late-Qing Politics Before and After the Sino-Japanese war)，三聯書店，1997年11月