Zhangjiakou is the hub for Beijing to enter Inner Mongolia, and the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway has obvious military, economic and political value. News of the road construction has spread that Britain, the most influential country in China, is determined to win, and Russia, which regards the north of the Great Wall as its sphere of influence, will not give in. The two sides couldn't stand each other, and finally reached an agreement: if the Qing court didn't borrow foreign debts or use foreign craftsmen, it would be built by China people independently, and neither side could reach out. In the eyes of Britain and China, backwardness is totally incapable. When they are deadlocked, they are waiting for the Chinese people to ask them for help.
1on may 3rd, 906, when studying in the United States, Zhan Tianyou wrote to Mrs. Nosobu, the "parent":
I am glad to receive your letter of March 22nd. Unexpectedly, I watched it again and again, as if listening to your conversation as usual. How happy we were when we were with you! Ah! How eager I am to revisit America and see my old friends again, especially you, the teacher in charge of our early education. What an exciting thing!
Yes! I am now the father of seven children-three women and four men! I am currently the office and chief engineer of Beijing-Zhangjia Railway Association. The length of this road is about 125 miles, and three tunnels will be dug, the longest of which is three quarters of a mile. This road is the first railway built entirely by China engineers. I hope we can finish it smoothly!
Low Kwok Sui is now in China, Zhejiang and Hangzhou. He is the chief engineer of the new railway there. How terrible the San Francisco earthquake is! Do you know Ouyang Ping 'an? Say hello, Sophie and Willie. Your loyal Zhan Tianyou.
Zhan Tianyou investigated three routes. The second detour is too far. Third, today's Fengsha Line, built from south to west in Beijing, passes through a large number of cemeteries and has too many obstacles. Due to the limited funds allocated by the Qing court and the short time, Zhan Tianyou decided to take the first route, that is, from Xizhimen via Shahe, Nankou, Juyongguan, Badaling, Huailai, Ji Ming Post and Xuanhua to Zhangjiakou, with a total length of 360 miles. The disparity between the peaks and cliffs and the difficulty of the project were not available in China at that time, and they were rare in the world. The slope is extremely steep, and the height difference between Nankou and Badaling is nearly 60 meters.
1906101October 24th, Zhan Tianyou wrote: Dear Mrs. Nosobu:
Letters dated 3 June and 9 September were received. Yes, the letter with a two-cent stamp also arrived safely. I have been busy with work recently, so I forgot my old friend. Please forgive me!
Admittedly, I am lucky to be appointed to my present job. China has gradually awakened and is in urgent need of railways. Now, engineers from China have been recruited all over the country. China will use its own funds to build its own railway in China. It seems that I have become the best engineer in China, so all China people and foreigners pay close attention to my work. If I fail, it is not only my personal misfortune, but also the misfortune of all China engineers and all China people, because China engineers will not be trusted in the future!
Before I was appointed to this job, even after I took office, many foreigners publicly declared that engineers in China could never undertake such a difficult task, because they had to cut mountains and build extremely long tunnels!
But I went all out to make jokes so far. I enclose a newspaper clipping to let you know what a China child under your guardianship has achieved and what he will continue to achieve in the future. His early education fully benefited from you! Your most loyal Zhan Tianyou.
On September 30th 1906, all the first blocks of the project were opened to traffic, and the second blocks started at the same time. In this section, four tunnels, namely Juyongguan, Wuguitou, Shifosi and Badaling, must be opened first, and the longest Badaling tunnel is1092m. This requires not only accurate calculation and correct command, but also new mountain cutters, ventilators and pumps. The former was not a problem for Zhan Tianyou, while the latter was not available in China at that time, and it could only be done by workers.
190665438+February 1 1 In the most tense days of the project, Zhan Tianyou wrote in a letter to Willy, the son of Nosobu and a childhood friend: "At present, China is in a very unstable situation, and she is conducting expensive experiments and striving for innovation. But no one can predict what will happen in the future. " "I now this railway, I can only use China people to build. If I have the right, I'd be happy to introduce you to a job. Unfortunately, I have orders not to hire foreigners, Zhan Tianyou.
Zhan Tianyou, whose real name is 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 the children in the neighborhood. Sometimes, he will secretly take apart the bells at home, fiddle with the components inside and ask questions that even adults can't answer. 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, my father drew a note on a certificate of going abroad, which said, "If there is illness, life and death, everyone will live in peace." After that, 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 marveled at the rapid development of machinery, trains, ships and telecommunications manufacturing. Some students are pessimistic about the future of China, but Zhan Tianyou firmly said, "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 Department of Civil Engineering of Yale University, majoring in railway engineering. After four years in college, Zhan Tianyou studied hard, ranking first in the graduation examination with excellent results. 188 1 year, of the 120 overseas students who returned from China, only two got their degrees, and Zhan Tianyou was one of them.
After returning to China, Zhan Tianyou enthusiastically prepared to contribute his knowledge to the railway industry of the motherland. However, the officials of the Westernization School of the Qing government were superstitious about foreign countries, and they relied on foreigners blindly 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 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 is fearless in the face of the enemy. At the critical moment of life and death, he is as calm as ever. He has the courage to save many people in the water ... "
From the post-war to 1888, Zhan Tianyou went through many twists and turns and was 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 meets 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.
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 made a close-up survey (P 1 16). At night, with the help of dim oil lamps, the geological structure of Luanhe River bed was carefully studied, analyzed and repeatedly compared, and finally the position of the pier was determined, and a new method-"pneumatic caisson method" was boldly decided to be adopted for the construction of the pier. Zhan Tianyou really succeeded, and the Luanhe River Bridge was built. This incident shocked the world: one 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, it is impossible to build a railway in China. At this critical moment, Zhan Tianyou accepted this arduous task without hesitation and was solely responsible 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 railways without foreigners, even if it is not a dream, it will take at least 50 years. " They even attacked Zhan Tianyou, the general manager and chief engineer, for being "arrogant" and "overreaching". Under pressure, Zhan Tianyou insisted on not appointing foreign engineers, and said: "China is vast and rich in resources, and I feel ashamed to rely on outsiders all the way to work!" "China has awakened, and China people will use their own engineers and their own money to build railways."
1In August, 905, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was officially started, and intense exploration and route selection began. Zhan Tianyou ran around the rugged mountain day and night with the measuring team and instruments on his back. One evening, the fierce northwest wind roared in Badaling area, whizzing past with dust, which made people unable to open their eyes. The survey team finished the work in a hurry, filled in the survey figures and 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' 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.
Soon, exploration and construction entered the most difficult stage. At Badaling and Qinglong Bridge, there are overlapping mountains and steep walls hanging rocks, and four tunnels will be opened, the longest of which is more than 1000 meters. After accurate calculation, Zhan Tianyou decided to adopt the method of sectional construction: simultaneously drilling from the north and south ends of the mountain, 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, I dug a lot of stones by hand and picked out the spewing spring water one by one. Zhan Tianyou, as the chief engineer, has no shelf. He digs stones and carries water with the workers, and his face is covered with mud and sweat. 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 used the principle of "turn-back line" to design a herringbone line on the steep Qinglong Bridge section in mountainous areas, which reduced the tunnel excavation and slope. When 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 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. But Zhan Tianyou said modestly: "This is the strength of more than 10,000 employees of 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. He gave up this honor in order to devote himself to the railway construction of the motherland.
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 president. During this period, he devoted a lot of efforts to the training of young engineers and technicians. In addition to setting an example, he also encouraged young people to "study hard for invention" and asked them not to "favor one over the other, and not to fish for fame". Take others with sincerity, not yourself as a mirror. "
Zhan Tianyou has been engaged in the railway industry for more than 30 years. At that time, almost every railway in China had different degrees of relationship. Old age breaks down from overwork 19 19. Comrade Zhou Enlai once spoke highly of Zhan Tianyou's achievements, calling him "the glory of the people of China".
Fujian Navy's Flagship "Wu Yang"
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 made a thorough survey of 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. It greatly encouraged the people of China to build 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.
The First Self-built Railway in China-Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway
The railway that runs through Guangou was originally named Jing-Zhang Railway. Built in the late Qing Dynasty by patriotic engineer Zhan Tianyou on 1905- 1909; He presided over the construction of the first railway designed and built by China. At that time, it was only from Fengtai, Beijing to Zhangjiakou, with a total length of 204 kilometers. Today, this railway has become a section of beijing-baotou railway and is connected with the Second Economic Line, so it is also an international railway line to Europe.
The Guangou section from the south exit of Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway to Badaling is the key to the whole project. The terrain along the way is complex, the mountain is high and steep, and the maximum limit slope is three thousandths. The subgrade rises by an average of three feet every kilometer. Especially from Qinglong Bridge to Badaling, they are all cliffs and deep valleys, and the project is extremely arduous. At that time, the imperialist powers tried to control and carve up our country.
Dark ages. The foreign invaders sarcastically said: "The engineer who wants to repair the railway ditch section in China has not yet been born." Hearing this fallacy, Zhan Tianyou was very angry. He was determined to win glory for his motherland and nation. So, with indomitable patriotism, after repeated investigations, an ideal route was finally designed. The tunnel part is more than 2000 meters shorter than that designed by foreign railway experts. Especially the Badaling and Juyongguan tunnels, which are over1500m long, are extremely difficult. But he drilled two shafts on Badaling, and with the excavation at both ends, he created six cutting faces, which made the tunnel open quickly. At the same time, he also designed a herringbone fork line near Qinglongqiao Station, which allowed the train to cross Badaling Peak smoothly by rotating, and solved the problem that the train could not climb high slopes and turn small corners directly. Due to the hard work of workers in Zhan Tianyou and China, the railway originally planned by foreigners took seven years and cost 9 million taels of silver, but it was actually completed in four years, costing 5.2 million taels of silver and saving 282,000 taels of silver. This has created a miracle in the history of railway construction, won honor for the Chinese nation, and greatly increased the ambition of China people.
Zhan Tianyou used the north and south ends to dig into the middle point of the tunnel at the same time. But the tunnel is too long, and then two vertical shafts are dug in the middle, which can be dug in the opposite direction, so that six working faces can be carried out at the same time. Using the principle of "broken line", he built a zigzag route to reduce the climbing degree and used two trolleys to cross it. At the beginning of the railway construction, there was a derailment of carriages. Zhan Tianyou thought of a way: add an automatic hook invented by American Jenny to each car, so that it can be combined into a solid whole to ensure the safety when climbing.
190665438+February 1 1 In the most tense days of the project, Zhan Tianyou wrote in a letter to Willy, the son of Nosobu and his childhood friend:
At present, the situation in China is very unstable. She is conducting expensive experiments and trying to innovate. But no one can predict what will happen in the future. Only China people asked me to build this railway. If I had the right, I would be happy to introduce you to a job, but unfortunately, I am now instructed not to hire foreign employees.
Building a railway near Beijing often requires an unexpected "price". The railway passes through the grave of a former Taoist priest, who is a relative of the royal family and has influence in both the government and the public. This person led the masses to make trouble, stopped the project, privately promised to pay heavily bribes and demanded diversion. However, the north, south and west are cemeteries of dignitaries, and I don't know how much waste will be caused by the big diversion. Zhan Tianyou endured humiliation, spent a lot of time dealing with powerful people, and finally let the railway pass through the tomb wall. But in order to maintain "Feng Shui", we promised to build another river, send officials to burn incense and sacrifice, and then erect a monument to commemorate it after the road is completed. Engineers were outraged, but Zhan Tianyou said that as long as the railway can be repaired, other minor things can be tolerated.
The difficulty of the third bid section of Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is second only to Guangou. The first thing I saw was Huailai Bridge, the longest bridge on Zhangjing Road, which was erected by seven 30.48-meter-long steel beams. Thanks to the correct command of Zhan Tianyou, the bridge was successfully completed.
The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was originally planned to be completed in six years. With the efforts of Zhan Tianyou, the whole line was opened to traffic on June 65438+August 65438+August 0909.
When Zhan Tianyou was building the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, when two tunnels, Juyongguan and Badaling, were dug, the steep and steep Badaling was designed as a herringbone line, which made the train run smoothly. This has become a major innovation in railway construction. Therefore, when repairing the former residence, the miniature "herringbone" Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway and Badaling Great Wall were specially built in the garden in front of the memorial hall.
Times: Bourgeois revolutionaries waged revolutionary struggles, established allied associations and launched Zhejiang-Anhui Uprising.
Debate between revolutionaries and royalists
"New Deal" and "Preparatory Constitutionalism" of Qing Government
In the 14th year of Guangxu, he served as an engineer of China Railway Corporation and was elected as a member of British Engineering Research Association. Since then, he has successively served as the railway engineer of Jinyu, Jinzhou and Pingyi, the chief engineer of Xinyi Railway, the general manager and chief engineer of Jingzhang Railway, and the chief engineer of Luotong Railway Consultant. Xuan Tongyuan, a scholar in engineering, was appointed as the examiner of foreign students, consultant of the postal department and consultant of the department, and was sent to Yichang as the chief engineer of Shangchuan Railway. In the first year of the Republic of China, he served as the office of Guangdong-Han Railway Association and was elected as the president of China Institution of Engineers. In the third year of the Republic of China, he was appointed as Guangdong Hanchuan Road Supervisor, and President Sun Yat-sen promoted him to Dr. Shao Qing, appointed as the Minister of Communications, and awarded the second-class Baoguang Golden Harvest Chapter. In the eighth year of the Republic of China, he was sent to Harbin by the Beiyang warlord government to serve as the representative of the Far East Railway Conference supervised by the Allies and the Chinese representative of the Conference Technology Department.
On April/0/5, 2008, he returned to Wuhan due to illness and died on the 24th at the age of 59. Zhan Tianyou's life has made outstanding contributions to the railway industry in China.