Zhan Tianyou (1861March17-1965438+the afternoon of April 24th, 2009), born as soon as possible, Han nationality, Dachao, Nanhai, Guangdong, now living in Hunan Province, originally from Wuyuan, Anhui Province (now Jiangxi Province); English name: Jemettien Yow, the first railway engineer in China, is responsible for the construction of Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway and other railway projects. He is known as "the father of China's railways" and "the father of modern engineering in China".

Zhan Tianyou, a teenager, is very interested in machines, and often makes various machine models with the children in the neighborhood. Sometimes, he would secretly open the bell at home, fiddle with it, ponder over the components inside and ask questions that even adults could not answer. The villagers envied the child. 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." Since then, he bid farewell to his parents and came to Yale University with the ideal of learning western "skills".

In the United States, students of overseas preparatory classes 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 1877. 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 China students who returned home, only two got their degrees, and Zhan Tianyou was one of them.

After returning home, Zhan Tianyou was full of enthusiasm and prepared to contribute what he had learned to the railway industry of the motherland. However, officials of the Westernization School of the Qing government were overly 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 how 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, after many twists and turns, he was finally 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 it encounters rising water and rapids. The iron 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 British in charge of the project had to agree to Zhan Tianyou's attempt. Finally, Zhan Tianyou solved three big problems that foreign engineers could not complete, and successfully built the Luanhe River Bridge.

1905, the Qing government decided to build the first railway in China-Jing-Zhang Railway. Zhan Tianyou is the general manager and chief engineer, in charge of the construction of Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. Under pressure, Zhan Tianyou insisted on not hiring foreign engineers, and put forward three requirements for the whole project: "less money, good quality and quick completion". After several years of struggle, 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.

After the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was completed, Zhan Tianyou was awarded an engineering scholar by Xuan Tong and served as the examiner for international students. 19 10 served as the prime minister and engineer of Guangdong Commercial Guangdong-Han Railway Corporation, 19 12 served as the Han-Yue-Chuan Railway Association, responsible for the construction of Guangdong-Han and Sichuan-Han railways. In the same year, "China Institution of Engineers" was established and was elected as the first president.

After the founding of the Republic of China, 19 13 was appointed by the government as the technical director of the Ministry of Communications, and 19 14 was awarded the second-class Baoguang Golden Harvest Chapter. 19 16, was awarded an honorary doctorate in law by the University of Hong Kong. 19 19 At the beginning of this year, as the China representative of the Far East Railway Conference supervised by the Allies, he was sent to Vladivostok and Harbin. In April, he returned to Hankou, Hubei due to illness. On the way, he boarded the Great Wall with illness and sighed: "Life has ups and downs, and the dream of building a road network has made me regret it." Fortunately, my life can be turned into a track crawling on the land of China ... "Zhan Tianyou finally fell ill due to overwork, 19 19 at 3 pm on April 24th. Zhan Tianyou and his wife Tan Juzhen were buried near Qinglongqiao Railway Station on Zhangjing Road.

During the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway in Zhan Tianyou, various railway engineering standards were formulated, and a letter was sent to the government asking for national adoption. The 4-foot-8-inch standard gauge and Jenny coupler (also known as Johnny coupler and Zheng coupler, created by American Eli Jenny) still in use in China are all put forward by Zhan Tianyou.

1922, a bronze statue of Zhan Tianyou was erected at Qinglongqiao Railway Station; 1987, Zhan Tianyou memorial hall was built nearby; On June 65438+1October 65438+February, 2005, the bronze statue of Zhan Tianyou, the "father of China's railways", was unveiled at Zhangjiakou South Station to commemorate the commencement of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway 100. The bronze statue of Zhan Tianyou is 2.8m high and weighs 1 ton.