Zhan Tianyou, a patriotic engineer, 186 1 (March of the lunar calendar 17), was born in Nanhai County, Guangdong Province. Father Zhan Hongyuan was a tea merchant, went bankrupt due to the invasion of British and French imperialism, and had to rely on farming to support his family.
Zhan Tianyou heard many stories of resisting British and French aggression from adults when he was young, and he also saw the corruption and incompetence of the rulers of the Qing Dynasty, which sowed patriotic seeds in his young mind.
When Zhan Tianyou was seven or eight years old, he was sent to a private school to study. But he is not interested in the four books and five classics, and likes to fiddle with some machinery. He often uses some small screws, pinions and old clockwork to make toys, and also uses mud to pinch boats and cranes. Many friends chase after him all day. On the way to school, he often stands outside the factory, looking at the machines and trucks inside, thinking and thinking, and often forgets to go to school. One day, he looked at the wall clock on the wall at home and lost his mind. Why is the wall clock ticking away? Why are you doing this? Thinking about it, he began to open the wall clock and wanted to have a look. However, when he tried to put it back as it was, he couldn't put it right and was sweating. Although his father was a little angry when he saw it, he took him to the watch shop in the county town and let him carefully observe how craftsmen disassembled watches.
187 1 At the end of the year, Zhan Tianyou 1 1 years old, studied in private schools for more than four years. Father is considering letting him work to earn money after graduating from a private school. At this time, fellow villager Tan Bocun rushed to the South China Sea from Hong Kong, saying that Hong Kong was selecting children to study abroad. Tan Bocun is also a businessman. He saw from an early age that Zhan Tianyou was smart and studious, and he liked him very much. He often uses money to support his family.
Tan Bocun strongly suggested that Mr. and Mrs. Zhan send their children to the United States to take the exam, believing that this is related to their future. Zhan is worried that his son is young, he is not at ease to go out so far, and his family's economic situation is not good. Tan Bocun expressed his willingness to give financial aid and betrothed his four daughters to God bless. Only in this way did we decide to send Zhan Tianyou to Hong Kong to take the examination for studying abroad.
1872, Zhan Tianyou successfully passed the exam, and his father also signed the Qing government's "Gan Jie" to go abroad. The so-called "knot" is a contract, which can be said to be similar to the deed of sale. For example, the Gan Jie stipulates that you must obey the orders of the Qing government, and you will not be responsible for illness or even life and death.
Zhan Tianyou, 12 years old, went abroad for training for half a year. 1872 In July, she boarded a foreign ship to the United States and began to study abroad. At first, he entered a "Northrop boarding school" in the United States to attend primary school and learn English. 1876 He entered Hillhouse Middle School (Qiuwu Middle School) in New Haven, graduated two years later, and was admitted to the Civil Engineering Department of Yale University.
During his study in the United States, Zhan Tianyou studied very hard, paid great attention to physical exercise, and was determined to study science for the early prosperity of the motherland. Of the 120 formal students studying in the United States, only two have successfully completed their university studies and obtained their degrees. Zhan Tianyou is one of them, and his graduation thesis "Research on Wharf Crane" was highly praised.
If you don't use what you have learned, you can't serve your country.
188 1 year, the first batch of China students studying in the United States were recalled to China. At that time, the struggle between westernization and die-hards within the Qing government was fierce. Westernization advocated learning western science and improving China society, while die-hards stuck to the old rules and tried their best to maintain feudal rule. Die-hards Wu Zideng and others repeatedly reported to the Qing government that students studying in the United States did not study well, indulged in playing and socializing all day, and even believed in foreign religions and joined American secret political organizations, which was deviant. The Qing government worried that these overseas students would become passive and endanger the imperial court, and ordered all students studying in the United States to be escorted back to China and put under the control of the local government.
After the students studying in the United States returned to China, Beiyang Minister Li Hongzhang received them in Beijing. According to the regulations of the Qing dynasty at that time, students must wear robes and jackets and have long braids. In desperation, Zhan Tianyou took off his suit and put on a robe, but refused to wear a fake braid.
During the interview, Li Hongzhang sat upright and saw these international students standing upright with their legs crossed, neither bowing nor bowing. Especially when he saw that Zhan Tianyou had no long braid on his head, he lost his temper and shouted: "No conscience, no father, no gentleman!" After that, I left and ordered these international students to wait for distribution.
Some international students, for their own future, want to find a good job, so they try their best to entrust people to find ways to send money and gifts, but Zhan Tianyou refuses to worship dignitaries. Finally, he was sent to Fuzhou Naval Academy to learn to sail, which was totally irrelevant. Zhan Tianyou's patriotism cooled, and he felt that he might as well go home. Persuaded by his good friend Yan Fu, Zhan Tianyou went to Fuzhou. After that, Zhan Tianyou worked as a pilot officer in Fujian Navy for seven years after returning to China, and taught English in Bo Guan Xue and Guangzhou Land and Water Teachers College.
1887, Zhan Tianyou married Ju Zhen, the fourth daughter of Tambocun, but she was very depressed. What is the future? When can I serve my country?
When Zhan Tianyou was eager to serve his country, his old classmate Mou wrote to him from Tianjin and asked him if he would like to go north to China Railway Company to be an engineer. He agreed happily.
Determined to devote himself to the railway cause
1888, Zhan Tianyou went north to Tianjin at the invitation of Mou to become a railway engineer. He was very excited. From then on, he decided to devote himself to the railway industry, serve the country and win glory for the country. One of his wishes is that the railways in China should be built by China people themselves.
At that time, China had begun to build railways, but all of them were built by foreigners at their own expense. Zhan Tianyou saw that China people could not build their own railways on their own land, while the railways built by foreigners were used to sell foreign goods and plunder products. Zhan Tianyou sighed!
Before going north, Zhan Tianyou went back to his hometown to visit his parents. Relatives are glad that he has a new job in the north.
When passing through Shanghai, Zhan Tianyou made a special trip to Wusong to mourn the ruins of the Songhu Railway. This is the first railway built by Britain in China. 14 years ago, when it was opened to traffic, it shocked the foolish and stubborn Western Empress Dowager. She thought that this behemoth's motorcycle, spewing smoke and dragging a long dragon to rumble, "destroyed the Feng Shui of the Qing Dynasty", so she ordered to buy it back from the British with 182000 silver, dismantle all the locomotives and tracks, transport it to Taiwan Province Province and sink into the puppy lake. How stupid and disgusting!
When Zhan Tianyou arrived at China Railway Company, he saw that this company was nominally a "government-supervised business office", a company of China, but actually controlled by British imperialism. China businessmen suggested that the China Railway "should be built by China people rather than foreigners; It is better to cultivate from the government than from the people, but it is not adopted. Due to the corruption in the Qing Dynasty and the poverty of the country, the railways in China were all built by foreigners, with loans from foreign imperialists and led by foreign engineers. Zhan Tianyou is very wronged. He firmly believes that sooner or later, China's railways will be built by China people themselves.