Which railways did Zhan Tianyou build?

Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. Xinyi Railway, Yiwan Railway, etc. Zhan Tianyou, courtesy name Juancheng, was born in Wuyuan, Jiangxi. He was born in an ordinary tea merchant family in 1861 (the eleventh year of Xianfeng reign in the Qing Dynasty). As a child, Zhan Tianyou was very interested in machines. He often made various machine models out of clay with the neighborhood children. Sometimes, he secretly disassembled the chiming clock at home, played with and figured out the components inside, and asked some questions that even adults could not answer. 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. After Zhan Tianyou passed the exam, his father signed a certificate for going abroad that stated, "If there is illness, life or death, everyone will take care of their destiny." From then on, he said goodbye to his parents and came to the United States to study with the ideal of learning Western "skills".

In the United States, students in the overseas preparatory class witnessed the great achievements of science and technology in North America and Western Europe, and were amazed by the rapid development of machines, trains, ships and telecommunications manufacturing industries. 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." Zhan Tianyou studied hard with the belief of studying hard for the prosperity of the motherland. , graduated with honors from New Haven High School in 1867. 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. In 1881, among the 120 Chinese students who returned to China, only two received degrees, and Zhan Tianyou was one of them.

After returning to China, Zhan Tianyou enthusiastically prepared to contribute the skills he had learned to the railway industry of the motherland. However, the Westernization officials of the Qing government were 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 a pilot to command drills. In 1883, the Sino-French War broke out. The following year, the long-planned French fleet entered the Min River one after another and was ready to 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, Zi Lin Xi Bao, 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 faced the enemy without fear, and at the critical moment of life and death, he was still calm and courageous, and rescued many people in the water..."

From After the war to 1888, Zhan Tianyou'er went through many twists and turns and transferred to the China Railway Company as an engineer. This was the beginning of his dedication to China's railway industry.

Not long after taking office, Zhan Tianyou encountered a test. At that time, the Jinyu Railway from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan was built to the Luanhe River, and a railway bridge was to be built across the Luanhe River. The Luanhe River bed has deep sediment and encounters rapids due to rising water. The iron bridge was originally designed by British engineers who were known as the world's best, but failed. Later, Japanese engineers were asked to contract the work, but it was not effective. Finally, German engineers were asked to take action, but they were also defeated soon after. Zhan Tianyou asked the Chinese to do it themselves. When the British in charge of the project were desperate, they had to agree to Zhan Tianyou to give it a try. A brief introduction to the life of Zhan Tianyou, Zhan Tianyou and the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway

Zhan Tianyou is a serious and down-to-earth person. After analyzing and summarizing the reasons for the failure of three foreign engineers, he wore work clothes and conducted on-site investigations with the workers. (P116) Dense measurement. At night, with the help of a dim oil lamp, he carefully studied the geological structure of the Luanhe River bed, analyzed and compared repeatedly, and finally determined the location of the bridge piers. Zhan Tianyou boldly decided to use a new method - the "pressure caisson method" to construct the bridge piers. As expected, Zhan Tianyou succeeded in building the Luanhe River Bridge. This incident shocked the world: a Chinese engineer actually solved a big problem that three foreign engineers could not solve.

After Zhan Tianyou won the first battle, he immediately encountered a more severe test. In 1905, the Qing government decided to build my country's first railway, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway (Beijing to Zhangjiakou). Britain and Russia both wanted to intervene, but due to the strong opposition of the Chinese people, their attempts failed. The British and Russian envoys said in a threatening tone: "If the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is built by Chinese engineers themselves, it will have nothing to do with Britain and Russia." They thought that this way, China would not be able to build this railway. At this critical moment, Zhan Tianyou took over this arduous task without hesitation and took full responsibility for the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. When the news came, some imperialists and British newspapers said sarcastically: "China's engineers who can build this railway are still unborn in their mothers' wombs! If the Chinese want to build their own railways without relying on foreigners, even if it is not a dream, it will take at least five years. Ten years." They even attacked Zhan Tianyou as "arrogant" and "overestimating his capabilities" as the general office and chief engineer. Zhan Tianyou resisted the pressure and insisted not to hire a foreign engineer, and said: "China has a vast land and rich resources, but we must rely on outsiders to work along the way. I feel ashamed!" "China has woken up. The Chinese people must use their own engineers and their own money to build railroads.”