From May 2 to 4 at 8:00 p.m., the CCTV-9 documentary channel is airing a six-episode documentary series, "The Story of the Foochow Arsenal," which tells the little-known story of the Foochow Arsenal, the first French-style university in China.

The CGTN French channel and documentary channel will also air features tracing the stories of the Foochow Arsenal and China's first batch of students who studied in France.

In 1866, the Qing government cooperated with France to establish the Foochow Arsenal in Fuzhou, the capital of southeast China's Fujian Province.

The Foochow Arsenal was the cradle of China's modern maritime education and navy and also played a pioneering role in China-France cultural exchanges. French engineers and craftsmen were hired, and schools for naval construction and apprenticeship were set up.

The documentary looks back on the first batch of Chinese students sent abroad and explores the important role the school has played in the people-to-people exchanges between China and France.

It incorporates precious historical materials about the school and its influence on future generations, discloses for the first time the relevant artifacts in the collections of foreign museums, and interviews nearly 100 scholars and experts on the history of the late Qing Dynasty around the world to provide historical context for the school.