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Zhan Tianyou and Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway

1905 In the severe winter, several guests came from afar to the Beijing-Zhangjia railway site at the foot of the Great Wall. They are the wife and children of Zhan Tianyou, the chief engineer. The news soon spread to the construction sites along the route, causing great shock among the workers.

As we all know, the Pearl River Delta, Zhan Tianyou's hometown, is a beautiful and rich place with green trees and flowers all year round. Why did Zhan Tianyou let his family come here to suffer with him?

Things have to start from the beginning.

At the beginning of the 20th century, China was poor and backward, and imperialist powers plundered China. When the Qing government proposed to build a railway from Beijing to Zhangjiakou, some imperialist countries wanted to compete for the right to build this railway in order to further control the northern part of China. They fought for nothing, and finally put forward a condition: if the Qing government used its own engineers to build the railway, it would not ask again. They thought that such a threat would make it impossible for the railway to start working, and finally this "fat meat" would still fall into their mouths. But they were wrong. China had its own engineers at that time, and Zhan Tianyou was one of them.

Zhan Tianyou went to the United States to study since he was a child, and then graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering of Yale University. 1905 was appointed as the chief engineer by the Qing government, responsible for the design and construction of Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. When the news came out, Chinese people cheered and foreigners sneered.

Be sure to build the railway! Never let imperialist countries underestimate us! Zhan Tianyou secretly made up his mind.

1In August, 905, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was officially started, and intense exploration and route selection began. Zhan Tianyou ran around the rugged mountain road day and night with the measuring team and instruments on his back.

One evening, the fierce northwest wind roared past the Badaling area with sand and gravel, which made people unable to open their eyes. Surveyors are anxious to finish their work as soon as possible. After filling in several measurement figures in the notebook, they climbed down the rock wall one by one. Zhan Tianyou took the book, looked through the filled figures and asked doubtfully, "Is the data accurate?" "Almost." The surveyor replied. Zhan Tianyou said seriously: "Our work should be precise first, and we should not be a little vague and rash. Statements like' probably' and' almost' should not come from engineers. " Then, he picked up the instrument, braved the wind and sand, and labored to climb to the rock wall again, carefully retest and corrected a mistake. When he came down, his lips were purple with cold.

Zhan Tianyou is so rigorous and tirelessly busy. He goes over mountains and mountains during the day, surveys routes, and draws and calculates under oil lamps at night. Faced with one technical and practical construction difficulty after another, he racked his brains and made great efforts. The railway stretches forward inch by inch. People's confidence is also increasing day by day.

The cold winter is coming. It was at this time that the construction of Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway entered a difficult stage. In Juyongguan and Badaling, the steepest places, two tunnels will be dug. The task is quite arduous, challenging and worrying. The harsh living conditions brought by the cold winter also make many people, especially the workers in the front line of construction, feel scared. Water shortage, food shortage, frost, homelessness, heavy work, coupled with illness, all kinds of difficulties are superimposed and become insurmountable obstacles.

Seeing everyone's low morale, Zhan Tianyou was worried.

"China people really can't build their own railways? Are China people really the sick man of East Asia? " "no! The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is the first railway we built with our own money. The eyes of the whole world are watching us, and we must succeed! "

Zhan Tianyou came out of her anxiety. He encouraged himself and others: "Success or failure is not our own success or failure, but the success or failure of our country!" "

To show his determination to build the railway, Zhan Tianyou wrote to his wife, asking him to lead his family to move to the foot of the Great Wall. Zhan Tianyou's wife is very supportive of her husband's career. She resolutely went north with her family, traveled long distances to the north and settled on the construction site.

The news that chief engineer Zhan settled in the construction site inspired people's enthusiasm. As long as the thought of Chief Engineer Zhan's whole family sleeping in tents and gnawing at Wowotou like everyone else, the workers suddenly feel that there are no insurmountable difficulties in the world.

The Zhan Tianyou family lived on the construction site for four years. Finally, in September of 1909, the entire Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was opened to traffic. The project was originally planned to be completed in six years, but it took only four years to complete ahead of schedule, and the project cost was only one-fifth of that estimated by foreigners. Some European and American engineers visited the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway by train. When they saw the Badaling Tunnel and the unique herringbone line of Qinglong Bridge with a total length of 1 100 meters, they couldn't help but admire sincerely: "Mr. Zhan is really a great engineer." Zhan Tianyou said modestly: "This is the achievement of 1 tens of thousands of railway workers, not my personal credit, and the glory should belong to everyone."

Jing-Zhang Railway is the first truly independent railway in China. Its completion has opened a glorious page in China's railway history, and effectively countered the imperialism that despised China. Today we go to Badaling by train and pass Qinglong Bridge Station. We can see the bronze statue of Zhan Tianyou. This splendid flower of dedication on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway will bloom in the hearts of the people of China forever.