Background information about Zhan Tianyou

Zhan Tianyou was born on March 17, 1861, and died on April 24, 1919, at the age of 58. Zi Juancheng, nicknamed Dachao, Han nationality, originally from Wuyuan County, Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province; English name: Jeme Tien Yow; he is China's first outstanding patriotic railway engineer, responsible for the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway (Beijing-Zhangjiakou) and other railway projects , known as the "Father of China's Railways" and "The Father of China's Modern Engineering". There are also China Zhan Tianyou Civil Engineering Awards, primary school texts, movies, etc. named after Zhan Tianyou.

Zhan Tianyou was born on March 17, 1861 and died on April 24, 1919, at the age of 58. Zi Juancheng, nicknamed Dachao, Han nationality, originally from Wuyuan County, Huizhou (now part of Jiangxi Province); English name: Jeme Tien Yow; he is China's first outstanding patriotic railway engineer, responsible for the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway (Beijing-Zhangjiakou) and other railway projects, he is known as the "Father of China's Railways" and "The Father of China's Modern Engineering". There are also China Zhan Tianyou Civil Engineering Awards, primary school texts, movies, etc. named after Zhan Tianyou.

Character profile:

Zhan Tianyou (1861-1919) was an expert in modern railway engineering in China. He was also one of the earliest engineers in China. His courtesy name was Zhan Tianyou. Originally from Wuyuan County, Huizhou (now part of Jiangxi Province), he was born in Nanhai County, Guangdong. In 1872 (the eleventh year of Tongzhi), Zhan Tianyou, who was only 12 years old, went to Hong Kong to apply for the "Preparatory Class for Young Children Going Abroad" organized by the Qing government. In 1878, he completed the middle school course with excellent results and was admitted to the Department of Civil Engineering at Yale University. Railway Engineering. In 1881, he graduated from Yale University with honors and wrote a graduation thesis entitled "Research on Wharf Cranes". He received a bachelor's degree and returned to China in the same year. After returning to China, Zhan Tianyou studied at the Mawei Shipbuilding Academy. After completing his studies, he was sent to the Fujian Navy flagship "Yangwu" as a gunner and participated in the Mawei naval battle. After the war, he was transferred to Huangpu Naval Academy to teach. However, in China at that time, due to the strong opposition of the feudal die-hards to the construction of railways, the heroes had no place to use and were forced to learn to drive sea ships, which was delayed for seven or eight years. In 1887, the "China Railway Company" was established in Tianjin. In the second year, after being recommended by Kuang Sunmou, a classmate studying in the United States, he was able to do the railway engineering work he was proficient in and became China's first railway engineer. He began to be responsible for the construction of the railway from Tanggu to Tianjin, and the track laying project was completed in just over 70 days. Later, he participated in the construction of the railway from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan. It was necessary to build an iron bridge over the Luanhe River. Faced with the successive failures of British, Japanese and German engineers to build the iron bridge, he resolutely took on the task of building the bridge and finally completed it brilliantly. All projects. Zhan Tianyou's greatest contribution in his life was his successful construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. In 1905, he served as the chief engineer of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. This road goes through mountains and ridges, with a total length of more than 200 kilometers. The project is so difficult that it has never been seen elsewhere. He personally surveyed and selected the route. In the Donggou of Qinglong Bridge in Beijing, a herringbone track is used, and two high-horsepower locomotives are used to turn around and push and pull each other to solve the problem of insufficient traction of locomotives on steep slopes. Together with the workers, we took various measures to solve difficulties such as water seepage and landslides in the tunnel project. The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was completed in 1909, four years ahead of schedule, and the total cost was only one-fifth of the price charged by foreign contractors. After the completion ceremony of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, he was appointed as the Sichuan-Hankong and Guangdong-Hankong Railway Committee Office or as Prime Minister and Chief Engineer. After the Revolution of 1911, he served as the Han-Guangdong-Sichuan Railway Committee Office, Chief Engineer, and Supervisor. Overcoming various difficulties, he built a 365-kilometer railway from Wuchang to Changsha. In his later years, he compiled and published engineering technical books such as "Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway Engineering Minutes" and "Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway Standard Drawings", as well as "Huaying Engineering Vocabulary", the earliest civil engineering dictionary in my country. Died in 1919. The Chinese Society of Engineers built a bronze statue of Zhan Tianyou, the first president of the society, at Qinglongqiao Station to forever commemorate this outstanding patriotic railway engineer.

Boyhood:

Zhan Tianyou was born on March 17, 1861 in Nanhai County, Guangdong. When he was a boy, Zhan Tianyou was very interested in machines. He often made various machine models out of clay with the neighborhood children. Sometimes, he secretly took apart the chime clock at home, fiddled with the components inside, and asked some questions that even adults couldn't answer. People in the village admired this child. In 1872, Zhan Tianyou, who was only 12 years old, went to Hong Kong to apply for the "Preparatory Class for Young Children Going Abroad" organized by the Qing government.

Youth:

In the United States, students in the overseas preparatory class witnessed with their own eyes the great achievements of science and technology in North America and Western Europe, and the rapid development of machinery, trains, ships and telecommunications manufacturing industries. Amazing. Some students became pessimistic about China's future, but Zhan Tianyou said with firm belief: "In the future, China will also have trains and ships." With the belief of studying hard for the prosperity of the motherland, he worked hard and He studied and graduated with honors from New Haven High School in 1877. In May of the same year, he was admitted to the Department of Civil Engineering of Yale University, specializing in railway engineering. During his four years at the university, Zhan Tianyou studied hard and ranked first in the graduation examination with outstanding results. Zhan Tianyou studied in Weihafen Elementary School and Nuhafen Middle School in the United States. He graduated from Yale University with honors in 1881 and wrote a graduation thesis entitled "Research on Wharf Cranes" and received a bachelor's degree in the same year. Return home.

In 1881, among the 120 Chinese students who returned to China, only two received degrees, and he was one of them. After Zhan Tianyou returned to China in his youth, he was full of enthusiasm and prepared to contribute the skills he had learned to the railway industry of the motherland. However, the Westernization officials of the Qing government were overly superstitious about foreign countries and blindly relied on foreigners when building railways. They ignored Zhan Tianyou's professional expertise and sent him to the Fujian Naval Academy to learn how to sail a sea-going ship. In November 1882, he was sent to the flagship "Yangwu" as the pilot and commanded the drill. In 1883, the Sino-French War broke out. The next year, the French fleet, which had long been planning to attack China, entered the Min River one after another and was ready to make a move. However, He Ruzhang, the surrendering shipping minister in charge of the Fujian Navy, ignored him and even ordered: "You are not allowed to fire first, and those who violate the rules will be killed even if they win!" At this time, Zhan Tianyou privately ordered the "Yangwu" to Captain Zhang Cheng said: "A lot of French warships have come with ulterior motives. Although we have received orders not to fire first, we must not fail to take precautions." Due to Zhan Tianyou's warning, the "Yangwu" was very Be alert and ready for battle. When the French fleet launched a surprise attack, Zhan Tianyou braved fierce artillery fire and calmly and tactfully directed the "Yangwu" to go left and right; avoiding the enemy's artillery fire, he seized the fighter plane and hit the French command ship "Volta" with its tail cannon. ", the French naval expedition commander Guba almost died. Regarding this naval battle, Zilin Xibao, founded by a British businessman in Shanghai, had to marvel in its report: "Westerners did not expect that the Chinese would fight so bravely. The five students on the 'Yangwu' warship , Zhan Tianyou’s performance was the most courageous. He showed no fear in the face of the enemy, and he was still calm at the critical moment of life and death, mustering up the courage to rescue many people in the water..."

From After the war to 1888, Zhan Tianyou was recommended by his old classmate Kuang Sunmou. After many twists and turns, he finally transferred to the China Railway Company as an engineer. This was the reason why he devoted himself to China's railway industry and became an engineer in the China Railway Company. Zhan Tianyou, who had been hidden for seven years, had the opportunity to devote himself to the railway industry of the motherland. At this time, the Tianjin-Tangshan Railway was under construction. He did not want to stay in Tianjin for a long time, so he went to the construction site in person and shared the joys and sorrows with the workers. As a result, it was completed and opened to traffic in only eighty days. However, Li Hongzhang took advantage of the merits of the Englishman Jinda and promoted Jinda to chief engineer. Zhan Tianyou's work was plagiarized in this way.

Soon after, Zhan Tianyou encountered another test. In 1890, the Qing government also built the Guanwai Railway (today's Beijing-Shenyang Railway), with Jinda as the chief engineer. In 1892, the project progressed to the Luanhe River Bridge. At that time, the Jinyu Railway from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan was built to the Luanhe River, and a railway bridge across the Luanhe River was to be built. The Luanhe River bed has deep sediment, and there are rapids due to rising water. Many countries wanted to drum up this business, and Jinda of course put the British first (Zhan Tianyou sitting photo), but the British engineer Cucks, who was known as the world's best, failed because he could not build the bridge. Japanese and German contractors also suffered failures. Later, Zhan Tianyou asked the Chinese to build it themselves. As the delivery deadline was approaching, Jinda had no choice but to ask Zhan Tianyou for help. After Zhan Tianyou made a detailed analysis of the reasons for the failure of various countries and conducted careful measurement and research on the geological soil at the bottom of the Luanhe River, he decided to change the pile site and use traditional Chinese methods. Chinese divers dived into the bottom of the river and operated with machines. The piling task was completed and the Luanhe River Bridge was successfully built. This victory has boosted the ambition of the Chinese people. In 1894, the British Engineering Research Society elected Zhan Tianyou as a member of the society.

After that, Zhan Tianyou led the construction of Beijing-Tianjin Road, Pingli Road (Pingxiang to Liling) and other railways.

In order to please the Nala clan, Yuan Shikai petitioned in 1902 to build a Xinyi Railway (Gaobeidian to Yixian) exclusively for the royal family to worship their ancestors. Nara was naturally happy to take the train to worship his ancestors. In order not to miss the opportunity to worship ancestors in 1903, Yuan Shikai was ordered to complete the project within six months. Yuan Shikai appointed Zhan Tianyou as chief engineer. Although this road is of little value, it is the beginning of Chinese self-built railways, so Zhan Tianyou still attaches great importance to it. Zhan Tianyou completely abandoned the convention that foreigners had to dry the roadbed for a year before laying tracks. He built the Xinyi Railway in only four months at a very low cost, which greatly inspired the Chinese people's confidence in building their own railways. It laid a good foundation for the later construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway.

Middle age:

In May 1905, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway General Administration and Engineering Bureau were established, with Chen Zhaochang as the general office and Zhan Tianyou as the general office and chief engineer. In 1906, Zhan Tianyou was promoted to general office and chief engineer. Zhan Tianyou clearly knows the difficulty of this task. He must first withstand the cynicism from all sides: some people say that he is "overestimating his abilities" and "just spend a few dollars", and even say that he is "Audacious". He said this in a letter to his American teacher Mrs. Northop: "If the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Project fails, it will not only be my misfortune, but also the misfortune of the Chinese engineers. It will also bring great losses to China. When I accept this task Before and after, many foreigners openly claimed that Chinese engineers could not undertake the arduous projects of stonework and caves on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Line, but I insisted on my project." It fully reflects the patriotism and national responsibility of Chinese intellectuals.

Zhan Tianyou surveyed three routes, and it was not advisable to take the second detour too far. The third line is today's Fengsha Line.

Due to limited funding from the Qing government and tight time, Zhan Tianyou decided to take the first route, which was from Fengtai north to Xizhimen, Shahe, via Nankou, Juyongguan, Badaling, Huailai, Jimingyi, Xuanhua to Zhangjiakou, with a total length of 360 miles. The difficulty of the whole line lies in Guangou. This area is full of mountains and cliffs. The engineering difficulty was unprecedented in the country at that time and rare in the world. The slope is extremely steep, and the height difference between the south entrance and Badaling is 180 feet. Zhan Tianyou divided the entire line into three sections: the first section from Fengtai to Nankou, the second section from Nankou to Kangzhuang, and the third section from Yu.

Construction officially started on September 4, 1905, and track laying began on December 12. On the first day of track laying, a coupler chain of a construction vehicle broke, causing a derailment accident. This suddenly became evidence that the Chinese could not build their own railways, and all kinds of slanders and slanders came one after another. But Zhan Tianyou did not panic. Instead, he thought calmly: This road has an extremely steep slope. If the connection between each carriage is slightly weak, an accident will be inevitable. To this end, he used the automatic hooking method and finally solved the problem.

On September 30, 1906, the first section of the project was opened to traffic, and the second section of the project started at the same time. The difficulty lies in the second section. First, the four tunnels of Juyongguan, Wuguitou, Shifosi and Badaling must be opened. The longest one is the Badaling Tunnel, which is 1,092 meters long. This requires not only precise calculations and correct command, but also new types of mountain excavation machines, ventilators and water pumps. The former was no problem for Zhan Tianyou, but the latter was not available in China at the time and could only rely on the hands of workers. The degree of difficulty can be imagined. They overcame many difficulties and finally completed the second section of the project in September 1908.

The difficulty of the third Zhan Tianyou Young Zhao section is second only to Guangou. The first thing encountered is the Huailai Bridge, which is the longest bridge on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Road. It consists of seven 100-foot-long bridges. Made of long steel beams. Thanks to Zhan Tianyou's correct command, it was completed in time. On April 2, 1909, the train arrived at Xiahuayuan. Although the section of the branch road from Xiahuayuan to Jimingyi mining area is not long, the project is extremely difficult. It faces the Yang River on the right and the rocky mountain on the left. A six-foot-deep channel should be opened on the mountain, and a seven-mile-long river bed should be raised at the foot of the mountain. Zhan Tianyou used the stones from the mountain to pave the way for the river bed at the foot of the mountain. In order to prevent flash floods from impacting the roadbed, cement bricks were used to protect it, and the third section of the construction was successfully completed.

Zhan Tianyou never paid attention to the difficulties in the project, but the man-made obstacles made Zhan Tianyou extremely worried and angry. There was a man named Guangzhai in Qinghe, who was a former Taoist priest and a relative of the royal family Zaize. He was powerful in both the government and the public. The railway happened to pass through his cemetery, so he led the crowd to cause trouble and stopped the project. He privately offered heavy bribes and demanded a diversion. The Postal and Communications Department didn't dare to ask. To the north is the tomb of King Zheng, to the south is the tomb of the eunuchs, and to the west is the tomb of Nala's father, Gong Gui. It would take a lot of time and money to completely change the route. Zhan Tianyou regarded taking bribes as a shameful thing and would never change his ways. He actually fought hard to stay or leave. In the end, because the five ministers were bombed while abroad, Zai Ze was too frightened to hear about foreign affairs. Only then did Guangzhai lose his backer and agreed to pass through his tomb wall.

The Nala family spent tens of millions of dollars every year to repair the Summer Palace, but they were unwilling to pay for road construction. The funds for the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway depended entirely on the surplus from the railways inside and outside Guanhai, but this money was controlled by the British HSBC Bank. When the second section of the project was entering, HSBC deliberately made things difficult and delayed the payment of wages, causing delays in work. Zhan Tianyou was not good at drilling. Zhan Tianyou (left) and Liang Dunyan (right) took a photo to stay with the powerful. He was even more ashamed to cater to foreigners, so he was extremely angry.

Imperialism always wants to seize this road. As soon as the project started, the Japanese Keijiro Amamiya wrote to Yuan Shikai, saying: The Chinese are unable to build this road, so it is safer to hire Japanese technicians. The Englishman Jinda also came to argue for Japan. Zhan Tianyou flatly refused on the grounds that he would never use any foreigner on this road. After the Juyongguan tunnel project started, groups of foreigners often came to spy on it in the name of hunting. They hoped that the project would fail so that they could take advantage of others' danger. Zhan Tianyou gave this voice to the Chinese with outstanding results.

After several years of hard work by workers, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was finally opened to traffic in September 1909. It was originally planned to be completed in six years, but it was completed ahead of schedule in only four years. The project cost was only one-fifth of the foreign estimate.

After the completion of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, Zhan Tianyou was awarded a Jinshi in Engineering by Xuantong and served as an examiner for overseas students. In 1910, he served as the Prime Minister and Engineer of the Guangdong Commercial Office of the Guangdong-Hankong Railway Corporation. In 1912, he concurrently served as the Han-Guangdong-Sichuan Railway Committee Office and was responsible for the construction of the Guangdong-Han and Sichuan-Han Railways. In the same year, the "Chinese Society of Engineers" was established and he was elected as the first president.

Old age:

After the founding of the Republic of China, he was appointed by the government as the technical supervisor of the Ministry of Communications in 1913. In 1914, he was awarded the second-class Baoguang Jiahe Medal. In 1916, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in law by the University of Hong Kong. In early 1919, he was ordered to Vladivostok and Harbin to serve as the Chinese representative at the Allied Powers Supervisory Far Eastern Railway Conference. In April, he returned to Hankou, Hubei Province due to illness. On the way, he climbed the Great Wall while ill. He sighed: "Life has its length and destiny, and my dream of building a road network has been shattered. I regret it forever. Fortunately, my life can be turned into a crawling stone on the Great Wall of China." A railroad track on the ground..." Zhan Tianyou finally became ill due to overwork and died in Hankou at 3:30 pm on April 24, 1919 at the age of fifty-eight. Zhan Tianyou and his wife Tan Juzhen are buried near Qinglongqiao Railway Station on Jingzhang Road.

During the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, Zhan Tianyou formulated various railway engineering standards and submitted a letter to the government requesting them to be adopted nationwide.

The 4-foot-8-inch semi-standard rail still used in China, the Janney Coupler (also known as Jiangni Coupler, Zheng's Coupler, created by American Eli Janney), etc. were all proposed by Zhan Tianyou.

After his death:

In 1922, a bronze statue of Zhan Tianyou was erected at Qinglongqiao Railway Station; in 1987, a Zhan Tianyou Memorial Hall was built nearby; on October 12, 2005, a memorial hall was built to commemorate Beijing and Zhangjiakou On the 100th anniversary of the commencement of railway construction, a bronze statue of Zhan Tianyou, the "Father of China's Railways", was unveiled at Zhangjiakou South Station. Bronze statue of Zhan Tianyou: 2.8 meters high and weighing 1 ton.

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Tianjin-Tangshan Railway

In 1888, Zhan Tianyou was recommended by his old classmate Kuang Sunmou to Worked as an engineer at China Railway Corporation. Zhan Tianyou, who had been hidden for seven years, had the opportunity to devote himself to the railway industry of the motherland. At this time, the Tianjin-Tangshan Railway was under construction. He did not want to stay in Tianjin for a long time, so he went to the construction site in person and shared the joys and sorrows with the workers. As a result, it was completed and opened to traffic in only eighty days. However, Li Hongzhang took advantage of the merits of the Englishman Jinda and promoted Jinda to chief engineer. Zhan Tianyou's work was plagiarized in this way.

The Luanhe River Bridge was built

In 1890, the Qing government also built the Guanwai Railway (today’s Beijing-Shenyang Railway), with Jinda as the chief engineer. In 1892, the project progressed to the Luanhe River Bridge. Many countries wanted to take over the business. Of course, Jinda put the British first, but the British Kakes failed because they could not build the bridge. Japanese and German contractors also suffered failures. As the delivery deadline was approaching, Jinda had no choice but to turn to Zhan Tianyou. After Zhan Tianyou made a detailed analysis of the reasons for the failure of various countries, and conducted careful measurement and research on the geological soil at the bottom of the Luanhe River, he decided to change the pile site and use traditional Chinese methods, using Chinese divers to dive into the bottom of the river and operate machines, and he succeeded. The piling task was completed and the Luanhe River Bridge was built. This victory boosted the ambition of the Chinese people. In 1894, the British Engineering Research Society elected Zhan Tianyou as a member of the society. After that, Zhan Tianyou led the construction of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway, Pingxiang-Liling Railway (Pingxiang to Liling) and other railways.

The Xinyi Railway was built

In order to please the Nala family, Yuan Shikai petitioned to build a baseball team dedicated to the royal family in 1902. Xinyi Railway (Gaobeidian to Yixian) used for ancestor worship. Nara was naturally happy to take the train to worship his ancestors. In order not to miss the opportunity to worship ancestors in 1903, Yuan Shikai was ordered to complete the project within six months. Yuan Shikai appointed Zhan Tianyou as chief engineer. Although this road is of little value, it is the beginning of Chinese self-built railways. Therefore, Zhan Tianyou still attaches great importance to it. Zhan Tianyou completely abandoned the convention that foreigners had to dry the roadbed for a year before laying tracks, and built the Xinyi Railway in only four months at a very low cost. This greatly inspired the Chinese people's confidence in building their own railways and laid a good foundation for the subsequent construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway.

Zhan Tianyou built the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway

Zhangjiakou is the gateway from Beijing to Inner Mongolia. The passage for traveling merchants from the north to the south has always been a must for military strategists, so the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway has important economic and political value. When the news came out that the Qing government was going to build roads in Beijing, Britain, which had the most influence in China, was determined to win. Tsarist Russia, which regarded the area north of the Great Wall as its sphere of influence, vowed not to give in. The two sides argued and finally reached an agreement: if the Qing government did not borrow foreign debt, , no foreign craftsmen are needed, it is all done by the Chinese themselves, and neither side reaches out. In this way, the Qing government gave up the idea of ??seeking help from foreigners and focused on self-study.

In May 1905, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway General Administration and Engineering Bureau were established, with Chen Zhaochang as the general office and Zhan Tianyou as the general office and chief engineer. In 1906, Zhan Tianyou was promoted to the general office and chief engineer. Zhan Tianyou clearly knew the difficulty of this task. He first had to withstand cynicism from all sides: some said he was "overestimating his capabilities", "just spent a few dollars", and even said he was "daring". He said this in a letter to his American teacher Mrs. Northop: "If the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Project fails, it will not only be my misfortune, but also the misfortune of the Chinese engineers. It will also bring great losses to China. After I accept this task Before and after, many foreigners openly claimed that Chinese engineers could not undertake the arduous projects of stonework and caves on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Line, but I insisted on my project." It fully reflects the patriotism and national responsibility of Chinese intellectuals.

Zhan Tianyou surveyed three routes, and it was not advisable to take the second detour too far. The third line is today's Fengsha Line. Due to limited funding from the Qing government and tight time, Zhan Tianyou decided to take the first route, which was from Fengtai north to Xizhimen, Shahe, via Nankou, Juyongguan, Badaling, Huailai, Jimingyi, Xuanhua to Zhangjiakou, with a total length of 360 miles. The difficulty of the whole line lies in Guangou. This area is full of mountains and cliffs. The engineering difficulty was unprecedented in the country at that time and rare in the world. The slope is extremely steep, and the height difference between the south entrance and Badaling is 180 feet. Zhan Tianyou divided the entire line into three sections: the first section from Fengtai to Nankou, the second section from Nankou to Kangzhuang, and the third section from Yu.

In August 1905, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway officially started construction, and the intense exploration and line selection work began. Zhan Tianyou personally led the students and workers, carrying benchmarks and theodolite, running around the rugged mountains day and night. One evening, a strong northwest wind roared with sand and rocks in the Badaling area, making people unable to open their eyes. The survey team was anxious to finish their work, fill in the measured numbers, and climb down from the rock wall.

Zhan Tianyou took the book, looked through the filled-in numbers, and asked doubtfully: "Are the data accurate?" "Absolutely," the survey team member replied. Zhan Tianyou said solemnly: "Our work must first be precise and cannot be a little sloppy. Statements like 'probably' or 'about' should not come from the mouths of engineers." Then, he carried the instrument on his back, braved the wind and sand, and worked again I arduously climbed up the rock wall, carefully re-surveyed it, and corrected an error. When he came down, his lips were blue from the cold.

Soon, exploration and construction entered the most difficult stage. In the area of ??Badaling and Qinglong Bridge, there are overlapping mountains and steep cliffs. Four tunnels need to be opened, the longest of which is more than 1,100 meters long, which is three times as long as Juyongguan. After precise measurements and calculations, Zhan Tianyou decided to adopt a segmented construction method: he dug from the north and south ends of the mountain at the same time, opened a large well in the middle of the mountain, and then dug in the well to the north and south ends. This not only ensures the quality of construction, but also speeds up the progress of the project. When digging a hole, a large amount of stones were dug manually with spades, and the spring water had to be picked out one by one. As the chief engineer, Zhan Tianyou had no pretensions. He dug stones and carried water together with the workers. Sludge's face was sweaty. He also encouraged everyone: "The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is the first railway we built with our own people and our own money. The eyes of the world are looking at us, and we must succeed!" "Whether we succeed or fail, it is never ours. The success and failure are the success and failure of our country." In order to shorten the construction period, Zhan Tianyou came up with the "shaft digging method" and created a "herringbone" line for the train to go up the mountain. These methods are now playing a very important role. big effect.

Zhan Tianyou and his family took a group photo in Wuhan. Construction officially started on September 4, 1905, and track laying began on December 12. On the first day of track laying, a coupler chain of a construction vehicle broke, causing a derailment accident. This suddenly became evidence that the Chinese could not build their own railways, and all kinds of slanders and slanders came one after another. But Zhan Tianyou did not panic. Instead, he thought calmly: This road has an extremely steep slope. If the connection between each carriage is slightly weak, an accident will be inevitable. To this end, he used the automatic hooking method and finally solved the problem.

On September 30, 1906, the first section of the project was opened to traffic, and the second section of the project started at the same time. The difficulty lies in the second section. First, the four tunnels of Juyongguan, Wuguitou, Shifosi and Badaling must be opened. The longest Badaling tunnel is 1,092 meters. This requires not only precise calculations and correct command, but also new types of mountain diggers, ventilators and water pumps. The former was no problem for Zhan Tianyou, but the latter was not available in China at the time and only relied on the hands of workers. You can imagine how difficult it was. However, they used the shaft digging method to overcome many difficulties and finally completed the second section of the project in September 1908.

The difficulty of the third section of the project is second only to Guangou. The first thing encountered is the Huailai Bridge, which is the longest bridge on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Road. It consists of seven 100-foot-long steel beams. Built up. Thanks to Zhan Tianyou's correct command, it was completed in time. On April 2, 1909, the train arrived at Xiahuayuan. Although the section of the branch road from Xiahuayuan to Jimingyi mining area is not long, the project is extremely difficult. It is adjacent to the Yang River on the right and the rocky mountain on the left. A six-foot-deep channel should be opened on the mountain, and a seven-mile-long river bed should be raised at the foot of the mountain. Zhan Tianyou used the stones from the mountain to pave the way for the river bed at the foot of the mountain. In order to prevent flash floods from impacting the roadbed, cement bricks were used to protect it, and the third section was successfully completed.

Zhan Tianyou never paid attention to the difficulties in the project, but the man-made obstacles made Zhan Tianyou extremely worried and angry. There was a man named Guangzhai in Qinghe, who was a former Taoist priest and a relative of the royal family Zaize. He was powerful in both the government and the public. The railway happened to pass through his cemetery, so he led the crowd to cause trouble and stopped the project. He privately offered heavy bribes and demanded a diversion. The Postal and Communications Department didn't dare to ask. To the north is the tomb of King Zheng, to the south is the tomb of the eunuchs, and to the west is the tomb of Nala's father, Gong Gui. It would take a lot of time and money to completely change the route. Zhan Tianyou regarded taking bribes as a shameful thing and would never change his ways. He actually fought hard to stay or leave. In the end, because the five ministers were bombed while abroad, Zai Ze was too frightened to hear about foreign affairs. Only then did Guangzhai lose his backer and agreed to pass through his tomb wall. The completion ceremony of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was originally scheduled to be completed in six years. Zhan Tianyou finally opened the entire line to traffic on August 11, 1909, two years ahead of schedule, with a savings of 280,000 taels of silver. The successful completion of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is a victory for the Chinese people and a full manifestation of the patriotic spirit of Chinese patriotic intellectuals.

Imperialism always wants to seize this road. As soon as the project started, the Japanese Keijiro Amamiya wrote to Yuan Shikai, saying: The Chinese are unable to build this road, so it is safer to hire Japanese technicians. The Englishman Jinda also came to argue for Japan. Zhan Tianyou flatly refused on the grounds that he would never use any foreigner on this road. After the Juyongguan tunnel project started, groups of foreigners often came to spy on it in the name of hunting. They hoped that the project would fail so that they could take advantage of others' danger. Zhan Tianyou gave this voice to the Chinese with outstanding results.

After the completion of Jingzhang Road, Zhan Tianyou was hired by the Guangdong Commercial Yue-Han Railway Corporation and served as the company's prime minister in 1910. In May 1912, he also served as the Han-Guangdong-Sichuan Railway Committee Office.

The Chinese Engineering Society was established

After the Revolution of 1911, in order to revitalize the railway industry, Zhan Tianyou and his colleagues established the Chinese Engineering Society and was elected as the president. During this period, he devoted a lot of effort to the training of young engineering and technical personnel. In addition to setting an example with his own behavior, he also encouraged young people to "research academically and invent" and asked them "not to favor others and not to be famous." And fishing for reputation.

Receive things with sincerity, without holding back selfishness, and bind yourself with Guibi as an example.

”