Introduction to the Iron Pier: The Iron Pier is a berthing place for Beiyang Navy ships. It was designed and built by Taoist Gong Zhaoyu and completed in 1891. The pier piles of the iron wharf are made of thick iron plates nailed into square columns, four or five feet in diameter and five or six feet long. Cement is poured into the middle, which solidifies like stone and goes straight to the seabed. When the tide is high, a ship of 10,000 tons can be docked.