Zhan Tianyou, courtesy name Juancheng, was born in Nanhai County, Guangdong. He is a pioneer in the history of modern science and engineering technology in our country and an outstanding patriotic intellectual in our country. In the 1880s, he devoted himself to China's railway construction. He once presided over the construction of my country's Beijing-Zhangjiakou, Sichuan-Han, and Guangdong-Han and other early railways. He worked hard and worked hard for the development of my country's early railway construction throughout his life. In particular, the completion of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway that he presided over shocked China and foreign countries. It showed the diligence and wisdom of our country's working people, inspired the national spirit, and promoted the development of the railway industry.

The Zhan family

Zhan Wanbang, the great-grandfather of Zhan Tianyou, was a student of the Imperial College during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. He came to Guangdong for tea distribution. Grandfather Zhan Shiluan inherited his predecessor's business and moved to the capital of Guangdong Province, where his business gradually expanded. The name of his grandfather Zhan Shiluan was recorded in the "Wuyuan County Chronicle", which said that he was "endowed with great talent and courageous in his righteousness. He helped his father take care of his old business and paid back more than a thousand gold he had lost... he established a literary society, set up a sacrificial field, built a school palace, a monastery, and many more Spend money sparingly."

But in the generation of Zhan Tianyou’s father, Zhan Xinghong, the Opium War broke out, and the British invaders used artillery to blast open the door to China. Those merchants who originally served the rulers of the Qing Dynasty began to serve the British invaders and became compradors controlled by the British invaders. Some small export merchants in Guangzhou began to decline. By the time of the Second Opium War, Zhan's business, like many other small export businessmen, was bankrupt. Father Zhan Xinghong had no choice but to move his family back to Nanhai from the capital of Guangdong Province, where he studied and farmed to support the family.

Childhood in the Machine Model

When Zhan Tianyou was 7 years old, his father sent him to a private school in Nanhai to study. Guangdong has become a base for British aggression and expansion after the two Opium Wars. Opium, textiles and other foreign goods entered Guangdong from Hong Kong, and agricultural products and industrial raw materials from the mainland were shipped from Guangdong to Hong Kong.

In such an environment, Zhan Tianyou came into contact with the industrial products and machines of capitalist countries early, so he began to be uninterested in the Four Books, the Five Classics and the Eight-Part Essay, and played with the machines he made out of clay every day. model and collect some machine parts. In his pocket, he often contains some small gears or clockwork. When he walked on the street, when he saw foreigners bringing novel things, he always stood there for a long time to take a closer look. What kind of things were they? How is it made? If he had the chance, he would definitely ask someone else. He has had a strong interest in machinery since he was a child.

Father Zhan Xinghong is well aware of his son’s interest in machines and often provides encouragement and support.

My father, Zhan Xinghong, had a fellow villager in Anhui named Tan Bocun. He likes Zhan Tianyou very much and thinks that this child is smart and perseverant and will definitely achieve success in the future. At that time, the Tan family was a little wealthier than the Zhan family, so they often helped the Zhan family.

China’s first generation of overseas students

At the end of 1871, 11-year-old Zhan Tianyou finished his private school and was wondering whether he should farm or become an apprentice. His father Zhan Xinghong began to give him his favorite The eldest son was thinking about a way out. Of course he hoped that Zhan Tianyou could read more books or go to the provincial capital to learn some skills, but due to the poor financial situation of his family, he could not get his wish.

Just when his father could not find a way out for Zhan Tianyou's work and study, the Qing government sent Rong Hong to Hong Kong to preside over the enrollment work of "selecting young children to study abroad". Tan Bocun was in Hong Kong at that time. When he heard the news, he rushed back from Hong Kong and persuaded Zhan Xinghong and his wife to send Zhan Tianyou to study in the United States, saying that this was the way to become a foreign scholar and a golden job for a lifetime. Zhan Xinghong and his wife were hesitant: their children had never left their parents' side, so they were sent to study abroad at such a young age. His parents were very worried, but for the sake of Zhan Tianyou's future, they decided to send Zhan Tianyou to study abroad. Therefore, Tan Bocun went to Hong Kong to register for Zhan Tianyou, and indicated that his major was mechanics.

In 1872, Zhan Tianyou, who was only 12 years old, went to Hong Kong to apply for Rong Hong’s preparatory class for children going abroad and was admitted. After admission, according to the regulations of the Qing Dynasty government, his father and brother must sign the "Application Form for Going Abroad".

So Zhan Xinghong signed the "Voluntary Letter to Go Abroad" with a heavy heart that he would be separated from his son for 10 years and that he would have to "settle for his destiny" if he died of illness.

Zhan Tianyou and other first batch of 30 students took a boat to the United States. After arriving in the United States, they were transferred to Springfield via Washington. At that time, the International Student Office headed by Rong Hong was established. Here it is. In 1873, after Zhan Tianyou took tutoring in foreign languages ??for a period of time, he was able to attend classes directly, so he entered Xihaiwen Primary School.

In 1876, Zhan Tianyou passed the New Haven Middle School with excellent results. During his several years in middle school, Zhan Tianyou began to systematically study the basic knowledge of science. He was particularly interested in natural science courses, which laid a good foundation for him to later study civil engineering and railway majors at Yale University.

Baseball representative of international students

Zhan Tianyou is not just a student who immerses himself in studying. He deeply understands the importance of health to his career, so he pays special attention to exercising in his spare time. . He likes various sports, such as swimming, skating, fishing, playing ball, etc. He also particularly likes playing baseball, and is also a member of the Chinese Baseball Team, a representative team of Chinese international students. This team once played an exhibition game with a semi-professional team in Oak Park near San Francisco, and their skills shocked Americans.

In 1878, Zhan Tianyou graduated from New Haven High School with excellent results. During his several years of studying in primary and secondary schools in the United States, he deeply realized that due to the poverty and weakness of the motherland and its increasingly low international status, the Chinese people in the United States have suffered all kinds of discrimination. Therefore, he was eager to change China's backward economic system at that time. So when he graduated from high school, he decided to apply for the engineering department. He was willing to use his excellent academic performance to serve the engineering cause of his motherland.

Successfully completed studies abroad

Zhan Tianyou was one of the first Chinese students to pass the university examination. When he was 17 years old, he entered the science school named after Scheifele at Yale University in the United States. Because he was good at science and mathematics, he studied railway engineering after entering the civil engineering department.

Zhan Tianyou studied hard during the four years he studied at Yale University and achieved excellent results, especially in mathematics. In the class, he was the best student in mathematics. In the first and second grades, he won a mathematics scholarship. In the graduation examination, he won the first place. In the fourth academic year, Zhan Tianyou began to write his graduation thesis. After more than half a year of hard work, he finally wrote a valuable thesis titled "Research on Wharf Cranes."

During his college years, in addition to studying hard, Zhan Tianyou also read many literary and artistic works in his spare time - especially the works of progressive writers with democratic ideas. He carefully read the outstanding anti-religious writer of the Italian Renaissance in the 14th century - Boccaccio's masterpiece "The Decameron" and so on; he also extensively read the works and works of Shakespeare, the great British classical writer and drama master. Works by American democratic writer Mark Twain. He was particularly interested in the works of Mark Twain. These works have a certain influence on Zhan Tianyou's thoughts.

Among the 120 young children who studied abroad in Rong Hong's "Education Plan", the last batch of 30 arrived in the United States in the autumn of the first year of Guangxu (1875). These young children were not able to successfully complete their studies like Zhan Tianyou. Due to the obstruction of the die-hards of the Qing government in China and the anti-China public opinion and behavior in the United States, all 120 international students returned to their motherland in the seventh year of Guangxu (1881). When these 120 people returned to China, only Zhan Tianyou and his classmate Ouyang Geng received their degrees and successfully completed their studies abroad.