Not afraid of difficulties and ridicule, Zhan Tianyou resolutely accepted the task and immediately began to survey the line. What makes him a patriotic engineer?

Zhan Tianyou, whose real name is sincere as soon as possible, is from Wuyuan, Jiangxi. 186 1 year (the 11th year of Qing Xianfeng) was born in an ordinary family of tea merchants. When I was a child, Zhan Tianyou was very interested in machines, and often made various machine models with clay together with the children in the neighborhood. Sometimes, he will secretly open the bell at home, fiddle with the components inside, and ask some questions that even adults can't answer. From 65438 to 0872, Zhan Tianyou, who was only twelve years old, went to Hong Kong to enroll in the preparatory class for young children going abroad organized by the Qing government. After passing the exam, my father drew a note on a certificate of going abroad, which said, "If there is a disease, we will live and die together, and everyone will be safe." Since then, he left his parents and came to the United States to study with the ideal of learning western "skills."

In the United States, students in preparatory classes abroad witnessed the great achievements of science and technology in North America and Western Europe, and were amazed at the rapid development of machinery, trains, ships and telecommunications manufacturing. Some students are pessimistic about the future of China, but Zhan Tianyou said firmly: "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 1867. In May of the same year, he was admitted to the Civil Engineering Department of Yale University, specializing in railway engineering. During the four years in college, Zhan Tianyou studied hard and ranked first in the graduation exam with excellent results. Among 188 1, 120 international students who returned to China from China, only two of them got their degrees, and Zhan Tianyou was one of them.

After returning home, Zhan Tianyou enthusiastically prepared to contribute what he had learned to the railway cause of the motherland. However, the officials of the Westernization School of the Qing government were 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 to drive seagoing ships. 1882 1 1 was sent to the flagship "Wu Yang" as a driving officer to guide the exercise. 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, the minister of shipping administration of the surrendering faction in charge of Fujian Navy, turned a deaf ear and even ordered: "Don't shoot first, and offenders will be beheaded even if they win the battle!" 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 was very alert and prepared for the battle. When the French fleet launched a sudden attack, Zhan Tianyou braved heavy artillery fire and calmly and tactfully commanded the "Wu Yang" to drive from left to right; Avoid the enemy's fire, seize the fighter plane, bombard the French command ship "Walter" with its tail, and almost kill the commander of the French naval expedition. For this naval battle, Zilin Xibao, founded by a British businessman in Shanghai, 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 is fearless in the face of the enemy, and he is as calm as ever at the critical moment of life and death. He has the courage to save many people in the water ... "

From the post-war to 1888, Zhan Tianyou experienced many twists and turns and was transferred to China Railway Corporation as an engineer, which was the beginning of his dedication to the railway industry in China.

Shortly after taking office, Zhan Tianyou was put to the test. At that time, the Jin-Yu 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 meets rising water and rapids. This railway bridge was designed by a British engineer who is known as a world class, but it failed. Later, Japanese engineers were invited to be contractors, but failed. Finally, the German engineer came out and was quickly defeated. Zhan Tianyou asked China people to do it themselves, but the British people in charge of the project had no choice but to agree to Zhan Tianyou's attempt.

Zhan Tianyou is a conscientious and down-to-earth person. After analyzing and summarizing the reasons for the failure of three foreign engineers, he put on work clothes and conducted a field survey with the workers, and conducted a close-up survey (P 1 16). In the evening, with the help of dim oil lamps, the geological structure of Luanhe River bed was carefully studied, analyzed and compared, and finally the position of the pier was determined, and a new method-"pneumatic caisson method" was boldly decided to build the pier. Zhan Tianyou really succeeded, and the Luanhe River Bridge was built. This incident shocked the world: a China engineer actually solved a big problem that three foreign engineers could not complete.

After Zhan Tianyou won the first battle, he immediately encountered a more severe test. 1905, the Qing government decided to build the first railway in China-Jing-Zhang Railway. Both Britain and China wanted to intervene, but their attempts failed because of the strong opposition of the Russian people. The British and Russian envoys said in a threatening tone: "If the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was built by Russian engineers themselves, it has nothing to do with Britain and Russia." They think that in this way, China can't build a railway. At this critical moment, Zhan Tianyou accepted this arduous task without hesitation and took full responsibility for the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. News came that some imperialists and British newspapers sarcastically said, "The engineer who can build this railway in China has not been born in the womb! China people want to build a railway without foreigners. Even if this is not a dream, it will take at least 50 years. " They even attacked Zhan Tianyou as the general manager and chief engineer for being "arrogant" and "overreaching". Under pressure, Zhan Tianyou insisted on not appointing foreign engineers, and said, "China has a vast territory and abundant resources, and I feel ashamed that I have to rely on outsiders for my work along the way!" "China has awakened, and the people of China will use their own engineers and their own money to build railways."

1905 In August, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was officially started, and the intensive exploration and route selection began. Zhan Tianyou, carrying the survey team and instruments, ran around the rugged mountains day and night. One evening, the fierce northwest wind in Badaling area roared past, carrying sand, which made people unable to open their eyes. The survey team hurried through the work, filled in the survey data, and then climbed down from the rock wall. Zhan Tianyou took the notebook, looked at the figures and asked doubtfully, "Is the data accurate?" ? "Almost," replied the surveyor. Zhan Tianyou said seriously: "The first requirement of technology is accuracy, and there can be no ambiguity or rashness. Statements like' possible' and' almost' should not come from engineers. " Then, he picked up the instrument, braved the wind and sand, struggled to climb to the rock wall again, carefully re-measured and corrected a mistake. When he came down, his lips were purple with cold.

Soon, exploration and construction entered the most difficult stage. At Badaling and Qinglong Bridge, there are overlapping mountains and steep overhanging rock walls, and four tunnels will be opened, the longest of which exceeds 1000 meters. After accurate measurement and calculation, Zhan Tianyou decided to adopt the sectional construction method: simultaneously drilling from the north and south ends of the mountain, and opening a large well in the middle of the mountain, and then drilling from the north and south ends in the well. This not only ensures the construction quality, but also speeds up the project progress. When digging a hole, dig a lot of stones by hand and pick out the spewing spring water one by one. As the chief engineer, Zhan Tianyou has no shelf, and works with the workers to dig stones and carry water, with mud and sweat all over his face. He also encouraged everyone to say, "The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is the first railway that we built with our own people and our own money. The eyes of the whole world are watching us, and we must succeed! " "No matter success or failure, it is definitely not our own success or failure, but the success or failure of our country!"

In order to overcome the difficulty of driving on steep slopes and ensure the train to climb up Badaling safely, Zhan Tianyou creatively applied the principle of "turn-back line" to design a herringbone line in the mountainous and steep Qinglong Bridge section, which reduced the tunnel excavation and slope. After the train arrives here, it will cooperate with two high-powered locomotives to push and pull to ensure the safety of the train uphill.

Zhan Tianyou once put forward three requirements for the whole project: "less money, good quality and quick completion". After several struggles by the 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 four years ahead of schedule, and the project cost was only one-fifth of that estimated by foreigners. Some European and American engineers paid tribute to Zhan Tianyou after visiting by bus. However, Zhan Tianyou said modestly: "This is the strength of more than 10,000 employees of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, not my personal credit. Glory should belong to everyone. "

After the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was completed, Zhan Tianyou succeeded as the supervisor and chief engineer of the Guangdong-Han Railway. At this time, the United States decided to grant him a doctorate in engineering and asked him to go to the United States to attend the conferring ceremony in person. In order to fully participate in the railway construction of the motherland, he gave up this honor.

After the Revolution of 1911, in order to revitalize the railway industry, Zhan Tianyou and his colleagues established the China Engineering Society and was promoted to be the president. During this period, he devoted a lot of efforts to training young engineers and technicians. In addition to setting an example, he also encouraged young people to "study hard for invention" and asked them to "don't be partial to others, don't pursue fame and fortune". Take others with sincerity, not yourself as a mirror. "

Zhan Tianyou has been engaged in the railway industry for more than 30 years, and almost every railway in China at that time had different degrees of relationship. He died in 19 19 due to overwork in his later years. Comrade Zhou Enlai once spoke highly of Zhan Tianyou's achievements, calling him "the glory of the people of China".