Zhan Tianyou, the Father of Chinese Railways (1861-1919)

Zhan Tianyou (1861-1919) is a native of Wuyuan, Jiangxi. China's outstanding patriotic engineer and railway engineering expert. He likes studying since he was a child.

At the age of twelve, he was selected by the Qing government as the first group of young children to study in the United States. After graduating from primary school and middle school, he was admitted to the Civil Engineering Department of Yale University to study railway engineering, and graduated from the university at the age of 2/kloc-0 with a bachelor's degree. After returning home, he was sent to be a soldier's pilot. He took part in the Sino-French Mawei naval battle and fought bravely against the French invaders. In the twelfth year of Guangxu, he worked as a foreign language teacher and charting in the erudite museum.

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.

Here we know that Zhan Tianyou is an outstanding patriotic engineer and railway engineering expert in China. He likes studying since he was a child. Zhan Tianyou's life has made outstanding contributions to the railway industry in China. We are sincerely proud of having such patriotic engineers and railway engineering experts in our country. Zhan Tianyou is an example for us to learn from. We believe that today, we should study hard so that we can make contributions to our motherland like Zhan Tianyou in the future.

Historical background

Engineers from Britain, Japan and France failed to direct piling during the construction of the Luan River Railway Bridge on the Jin-Yu Railway. Zhan Tianyou adopted China Weitong method with machine piling, which was successful.

Xinyi Railway is the beginning of China engineering railway. Zhan Tianyou was completed in four months, two months ahead of schedule, which was appreciated by Empress Dowager Cixi and Yuan Shikai.

The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was decided to be built by China because Britain and Russia were at loggerheads over the right to build roads. Foreigners scoff at China's "overreaching" and "audacity", and Zhan Tianyou is determined to win honor for the country, carefully plan and construct. When digging Juyongguan and Badaling tunnels, Zhan Tianyou creatively adopted the construction method of digging at both ends and opening a shaft in the middle, without the difficulty of opening a new mountain knife, water pump and ventilator, and successfully solved the problem. Badaling, with steep terrain and steep slope, is designed as a "people" route to make the train run smoothly. When driving, the car is disconnected, imitating an automatic hook called "God Blessed Hook". The railway is planned to be completed in 6 years and 4 years, saving investment of more than 282,000 silver. It was regarded as a miracle by foreign engineers at that time.

Against the background of 1840 building the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, after the Opium War between China and Britain, China gradually changed from a feudal society to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. 1895, after the failure of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, it was forced to sign the Sino-Japanese treaty of shimonoseki. Since then, the imperialist powers have stepped up their economic aggression against China by opening banks, forcing loans, investing in railways, and opening mines and factories. Among them, from 1895 to 1899, imperialist countries seized nearly 10000 km of railway construction rights in China. Wherever the railway controlled by imperialism is built, the claws of aggression will extend. Near the railway, imperialist powers competed to build factories and mine, plundering China's resources. By the end of 19, the struggle for railway rights among the great powers was more intense, and even the Qing government was threatened by force. The Qing government, which originally planned to build its own railways, was helpless in the face of the struggle of the great powers and had to hand over the right to build one railway after another to foreign countries. The great powers invested in building railways in China, which not only achieved great economic benefits, but also attached various conditions, including controlling railways and areas along the railway and transporting troops.

We know the historical background at that time: the Qing government was corrupt and incompetent, and China was bullied by many imperialists. From this, we further realize what a great man Zhan Tianyou is. In the face of all kinds of difficulties, he still accomplished his task brilliantly, bringing honor to the country.