A Brief Introduction to Zhan Tianyou's Short Stories

Zhan Tianyou, 186 1, is a native of Nanhai county, Guangdong province. Zhan Tianyou, a teenager, is very interested in machines, and often makes various machine models with the children in the neighborhood. Sometimes, he secretly takes apart the bell at home, fiddles with the components inside and asks questions that even adults can't answer. The villagers envied the child. From 65438 to 0872, Zhan Tianyou, who was only 12 years old, went to Hongkong to sign up for the preparatory class for young children going abroad organized by the Qing government. After passing the exam,1July 8, 872, Zhan Tianyou went to study in the United States as the first batch of public students from China, and his father drew an oath of "life and death if you are sick" on a certificate of going abroad. Since then, he bid farewell to his parents and came to Yale University with the ideal of learning western "skills".

early stage

In the United States, students of overseas preparatory classes witnessed the great achievements of science and technology in North America and Western Europe and marveled at the rapid development of machinery, trains, ships and telecommunications manufacturing. Some students are pessimistic about the future of China, but Zhan Tianyou said with firm belief: Zhan Tianyou in his youth.

"In the future, there will be trains and ships in China." With the belief of studying hard for the prosperity of the motherland, he studied hard and graduated from New Haven with 1877. In May of the same year, he was admitted to the Department of Civil Engineering of Yale University, majoring in railway engineering. After four years in college, Zhan Tianyou studied hard and got excellent results in graduation exams, ranking first. Zhan Tianyou studied in Weihafen Primary School and Nuhafen Middle School in the United States. He graduated from Yale University with 188 1, and wrote his graduation thesis "Research on Wharf Crane", where he obtained his bachelor's degree and returned to China in the same year. 188 1 year, of the 120 China students who returned home, only two got their degrees, and he was one of them. Zhan Tianyou stamps

After returning home, Zhan Tianyou was full of enthusiasm and prepared to contribute what he had learned to the railway industry of the motherland. However, officials of the Westernization School of the Qing government were overly superstitious about foreign countries, and blindly relied on foreigners when building railways, regardless of Zhan Tianyou's professional expertise, and sent him to Fujian Naval Academy to learn how to drive seagoing ships. 1882 1 1 was sent to the flagship "Wu Yang" as a driving officer to direct the drill. 1883, the Sino-French war broke out. In the second year, the long-planned French fleet entered the Minjiang River in succession, ready to go. However, He Zhangru, the shipping minister of the surrendering faction in charge of Fujian Navy, turned a deaf ear and even ordered: "Don't fire first, and offenders will be beheaded even if they win!" At this time, Zhan Tianyou privately said to Mr. Zhang, the captain of the Wu Yang, "There are many French warships with ulterior motives. Although we have received an order not to fire first, we must never take preventive measures in advance. " Because of Zhan Tianyou's warning, Wu Yang is very alert and ready to fight. When the French fleet launched a surprise attack, Zhan Tianyou braved heavy artillery fire and calmly and tactfully commanded the "Wu Yang" to move forward from left to right; Avoiding enemy fire, seizing fighter planes, and bombarding the French command ship "Walter" with its tail almost killed the commander of the French naval expedition. For this naval battle, Zilin Xibao, founded by British businessmen in Shanghai, also had to be surprised and praised in different places: "Westerners didn't expect China people to fight so bravely. Of the five students aboard the Wu Yang, Zhan Tianyou is the bravest. He was fearless in the face of the enemy. At the critical moment of life and death, he remained calm as always and got up the courage to save many people in the water ... "From the post-war to 1888, after many twists and turns, he was finally transferred to China Railway Corporation as an engineer, which was the beginning of his participation in the railway industry in China. Shortly after taking office, Zhan Tianyou was put to the test. At that time, the Tianjin-Hebei 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 sediments, and it encounters rising water and rapids. The railway bridge was designed by a world-class British engineer, but it failed. Later, Japanese engineers were hired as contractors, which was no good. Finally, the German engineer came out and was quickly defeated. Zhan Tianyou asked China people to do it themselves, but the Englishman in charge of the project had no choice but to agree to Zhan Tianyou's attempt. Finally, Zhan Tianyou solved three big problems that foreign engineers could not complete, and successfully built the Luanhe River Bridge. From 65438 to 0888, Zhan Tianyou was recommended by his old classmate Mou to be an engineer in China Railway Company. Zhan Tianyou, which has been lost for seven years, has the opportunity to join the railway industry of the motherland. At this time, it was the construction of the Tianjin-Tangshan Railway. He didn't want to stay in Tianjin for a long time, so he went to the construction site to share joys and sorrows with the workers. As a result, it was completed and opened to traffic in only 80 days. However, Li Hongzhang played the role of Englishman Jinda and promoted Jinda as chief engineer. Zhan Tianyou's works were therefore copied. 1890, the Qing government repaired the internal and external railways (now Beijing-Shenyang Railway), and Jinda was the chief engineer. 1892, the project goes to Luanhe Bridge, and many countries want to win this business. Of course, Jinda took the Englishman first, but the Englishman Cox failed because the bridge could not be built. Contractors from Japan and Germany also failed. As the delivery deadline approaches, Jinda has to ask Zhan Tianyou. Zhan Tianyou made a detailed analysis of the reasons for the failure of various countries, and thoroughly investigated and studied the geological soil at the bottom of Luanhe River. Later, he decided to change the pile location, adopt the traditional method of China, dive into the bottom of the river with divers from China, cooperate with machine operation, successfully complete the piling task, and build the Luanhe River Bridge. This victory has strengthened the ambition of the people of China. 1894 British engineering research association elected Zhan Tianyou as its member. Since then, Zhan Tianyou has led the construction of railways such as Beijing-Tianjin Road and Pingyao Road (Pingxiang to Liling). In order to please Nora, Yuan Shikai invited to build a Xinyi Railway (Gaobeidian to Yixian) in 1902 for the royal family to worship their ancestors. Nora is naturally willing to take the train to worship her ancestors. In order not to miss the use of ancestor worship in 1903, Yuan Shikai was ordered to finish it within half a year. Yuan Shikai appointed Zhan Tianyou as the chief engineer. Although this road is of little value, it is the beginning for China people to build their own railways, so Zhan Tianyou still attaches great importance to it. Zhan Tianyou completely abandoned the routine that foreigners had to air-dry the roadbed for one year before laying the track. It took only four months to build the Xinyi Railway at a very low cost, which greatly encouraged the confidence of China people in building their own railways and laid a good foundation for the later construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. Zhangjiakou is the hub of Beijing's entry into Inner Mongolia, the channel for tourists and businessmen from north and south, and has always been a battleground for military strategists. Therefore, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway has important economic and political value. As soon as the news that the Qing court was going to build the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Highway came out, Britain, the most influential country in China, was determined to win. Russia, which regards the north of the Great Wall as its sphere of influence, will never give in and the two sides will not give in to each other. Finally, an agreement was reached: if the Qing court did not borrow foreign debts and needed foreign craftsmen, the road would be built by China people, and neither side could reach out. In this way, the Qing government gave up the idea of asking foreigners for help and devoted itself to self-study.

middle age

1905 In May, the Engineering Bureau of Beijing-Zhangjia Railway Administration was established, with Chen Ren as general manager and Zhan Tianyou as general manager and chief engineer. 1906, Zhan Tianyou was promoted to general manager and chief engineer. Zhan Tianyou clearly knows the difficulty of this task. He must first resist cynicism from all sides: some people say that he is "overreaching", "only spending a few dollars" and even "daring". In a letter to Mrs Northrop, an American teacher, he said: "If the Beijing-Zhangjiang project fails, it will be not only my misfortune, but also the misfortune of China engineers, and it will bring great losses to China. Before and after I accepted this task, many foreigners publicly declared that China engineers could not undertake the arduous project of masonry and cave dwelling on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou line, but I persisted in my project. " . It fully embodies the patriotism and sense of national responsibility of China intellectuals. Zhan Tianyou has surveyed three routes, and the second detour is too far. The third is today's abundant sand line. Due to the limited funds allocated by the Qing court and the short time, Zhan Tianyou decided to adopt the first route, that is, from Fengtai to Zhangjiakou via Xizhimen, Shahe, Jingnankou, Juyongguan, Badaling, Huailai, Ji Ming Post and Xuanhua, with a total length of 360 miles. The difficulty of the whole line is to close the ditch, where the mountains overlap and the cliffs are steep and varied. The difficulty of the project was not found in the whole country at that time, and it was rare in the world. The slope is very large, and the height difference between Nankou and Badaling is 180. Zhan Tianyou divides the whole line into three sections: Fengtai to Nankou as the first section, Nankou to Kangzhuang as the second section, and the rest as the third section. /kloc-0 started construction on September 4th, 905, and/kloc-0 started track laying on February 6th, 2. On the first day of track laying, the coupler chain of an engineering vehicle broke, causing derailment accident. This has become evidence that China people can't build their own railways, and all kinds of slanders have poured in. However, Zhan Tianyou didn't panic, but thought calmly: the slope of this road is extremely high, and the connection performance between cars is slightly unstable, so the accident is hard to avoid. To this end, he used the method of automatic hook and finally solved this problem. On September 30th 1906, all the first blocks of the project were opened to traffic, and the second blocks started at the same time. The difficulty lies in the second quarter. First of all, we must open four tunnels: Juyongguan, Wuguitou, Shifosi and Badaling. The longest length of Badaling Tunnel is1.092m.. This requires not only accurate calculation and correct command, but also new mountain cutters, ventilators and pumps. The former is not a problem for Zhan Tianyou, while the latter is not available in China at that time, and it can only be imagined by the hands of workers. They overcame many difficulties and finally completed the second bid section in September 1908. The difficulty of the third bid section is second only to that of Guangou. The first one is Huailai Bridge, the longest bridge on Zhangjing Road, which is erected by 7 steel beams 100 feet long. Thanks to Zhan Tianyou's correct command, it was completed in time. April 2 1909 train goes to Xiahuayuan. Although the section from Xiahuayuan to Jimingyi mining area is not long, the project is extremely difficult. On the right is Yanghe River, and on the left is Rocky Mountain. A six-foot-deep tunnel should be opened on the mountain, and a seven-mile-long riverbed should be padded under the mountain. Zhan Tianyou paved the river bed at the foot of the mountain with stones paving the road on the mountain. In order to prevent mountain torrents from impacting the subgrade, cement bricks were used for protection, and the third section was successfully completed. Zhan Tianyou never paid attention to the engineering difficulties, but Zhan Tianyou was extremely worried about man-made obstacles. There is a man named Guangzhai in Qinghe. He used to be a Taoist priest and a relative of the royal family Zaize. Both the ruling and opposition parties have influence. As soon as the railway passed its grave, he led the crowd to make trouble, stopped the project, and bribed heavily in private to demand diversion. The postal department is afraid to ask. There is the tomb of King Zheng in the north, the tomb of eunuchs in the south and the tomb of Nora's father Guigong in the west. I wonder how much time and money will be wasted to divert traffic. Zhan Tianyou is ashamed of taking bribes, never misappropriating them, and strives to stay or stay. Finally, because the five ministers were bombed when they went abroad, Zaize was too scared to talk about foreign affairs. Guangzhai agreed to pass through the grave wall because he lost his backer. Nala saves tens of millions of dollars to build the Summer Palace every year, but is unwilling to pay for road construction. The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway relies entirely on the surplus of internal and external railways, but this money is controlled by the British HSBC. When entering the second phase of the project, HSBC deliberately made things difficult and delayed payment, which led to the delay. Zhan Tianyou was very angry because he was not good at getting close to powerful people and was ashamed of pandering to foreigners. Imperialism always wants to seize this road. At the beginning of the project, Japanese Yujiro wrote to Yuan Shikai at the imperial gate, saying: China people can't afford to build this road, so it's safer to ask Japanese technicians. The Englishman Jinda also came to intercede for Japan. Zhan Tianyou flatly refused to hire any foreigners on this road. After the Juyongguan tunnel project started, hordes of foreigners often came to spy in the name of hunting, hoping that the project would fail in order to take advantage of people's danger. Zhan Tianyou set the tone for the people of China with excellent results. Zhangjing railway

After several years of struggle, 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 four years ahead of schedule, and the project cost was only one-fifth of that estimated by foreigners. After the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was completed, Zhan Tianyou was awarded an engineering scholar by Xuan Tong and served as the examiner for international students. 19 10 served as the prime minister and engineer of Guangdong Commercial Guangdong-Han Railway Corporation, 19 12 served as the Han-Yue-Chuan Railway Association, responsible for the construction of Guangdong-Han and Sichuan-Han railways. In the same year, "China Institution of Engineers" was established and was elected as the first president.

old age

After the founding of the Republic of China, 19 13 was appointed by the government as the technical director of the Ministry of Communications, and 19 14 was awarded the second-class Baoguang Golden Harvest Chapter. 19 16, was awarded an honorary doctorate in law by the University of Hong Kong. 19 19 At the beginning of this year, as the China representative of the Far East Railway Conference supervised by the Allies, he was sent to Vladivostok and Harbin. In April, he returned to Hankou, Hubei due to illness. On the way, he boarded the Great Wall with illness and sighed: "Life has ups and downs, and the dream of building a road network has made me regret it." Fortunately, my life can be turned into a track crawling on the land of China ... "Zhan Tianyou finally fell ill due to overwork, 19 19 at 3 pm on April 24th. Zhan Tianyou and his wife Tan Juzhen were buried near Qinglongqiao Railway Station on Zhangjing Road. During the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway in Zhan Tianyou, various railway engineering standards were formulated, and a letter was sent to the government asking for national adoption. The 4-foot-8-inch standard gauge and Jenny coupler still in use in China (also known as Johnny coupler and Zheng coupler, created by American Eli Jenny) were all put forward by Zhan Tianyou.

posthumous

1922, a bronze statue of Zhan Tianyou was erected at Qinglongqiao Railway Station; 1987, Zhan Tianyou memorial hall was built nearby; On June 65438+1October 65438+February, 2005, the bronze statue of Zhan Tianyou, the "father of China's railways", was unveiled at Zhangjiakou South Station to commemorate the commencement of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway 100. * bronze statue of Zhan Tianyou: 2.8m high and weighing1t.