Editor's note: July 1, 2022, marks the 70th anniversary of the opening of the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway. 70 After years of ups and downs, this "First Road in New China" across Bashan and Shushui Rivers is like an unshakable monument, engraved with the changes of the times. In the difficult period when New China was just starting out, how did such "Made in China" come into being? From a single railway to the "three parallel lines" between Chengdu and Chongqing, to the Chengdu-Chongqing twin-city economic circle that connects the world, how has the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway continued to evolve and transform?
Chengdu Radio and Television Station Shenniao News will launch a series of reports "Looking at "Chengdu and Chongqing" from "Chengdu and Chongqing" from now on, restoring those passionate years, showing the magnificent picture of the social and economic development of Chengdu and Chongqing's "Twin Cities", and witnessing Historical changes along the Chengdu-Chongqing line; focusing on the practice and future of the Chengdu-Chongqing twin-city economic circle, and lovingly recording the great era. In the first article, we go back to the Chengdu-Chongqing region a hundred years ago and walk into the railway dream of half a century.
01
70 years ago, what was it like to board the first train of the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway?
On July 1, 1952, the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway, the first railway built by New China, was opened to traffic. Chengdu and Chongqing held celebration meetings respectively and drove a float to each other. The two locomotives were decorated exactly the same, and they met at Neijiang , the midway point between the two cities. Chongqing and Chengdu, two cities connected by blood, embraced each other affectionately through the railway for the first time.
As the first batch of Young Pioneers of New China, Li Yuanhong, a young boy from Neijiang at that time, and his friends boarded the first train from Chongqing to Chengdu. The scene at that time is still fresh in his memory. Li Yuanhong said: "We are ten Several young pioneers boarded the train to lay flowers. Each carriage was like a big house. We were so happy to board the train for the first time. Think about it, more than ten of us young pioneers were extremely happy, just on the train. We were waving from above. At this time, a reporter from "People's Pictorial" took a photo of us. "What we saw in front of us was undoubtedly a huge shock to Li Yuanhong and all the onlookers," Li Yuanhong recalled. When they heard that the train from Chengdu was coming, some naughty children lay on the rails to listen. They could hear the sound from far away. The security guards quickly got them up. When the train arrived, everyone started cheering. "
Li Yuanhong
The people of Sichuan have been waiting for this day for nearly half a century. On this day, the streets in Chengdu and Chongqing were deserted. More than 300,000 people in Chengdu gathered in the streets and alleys of Chengdu and the railway station square to celebrate the opening of the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway.
02
Before there were railways in the Chengdu-Chongqing area, how could we travel between them?
In 1947, there were roads connecting Chengdu and Chongqing, but the roads were not easy to travel.
"It took me two or three miles, broke down four or five times, got off the bus six or seven times, and was pushed by eighty or ninety people." At that time, people often used this joke to joke about the Chengdu-Chongqing Highway. It can be seen that it has steep slopes and sharp turns, making driving inconvenient. Cars often fall into deep ditches because of this. The Feilong Bridge outside Longquanyi Town is the "Ghost Gate" of the old Chengdu-Chongqing Highway. But even so, before the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway was opened to traffic, the Chengdu-Chongqing Highway, built in 1933, was still the most convenient passage connecting Chengdu and Chongqing. If everything went well, it would only take two days to arrive one way.
Chengdu-Chongqing Highway Picture According to the Internet
If time goes forward, Sichuan people can only rely on their feet or boats to travel. With the Yangtze River as the main trunk and the Minjiang River, Fujiang Fujiang River and Tuojiang River as the main channels, the three waterways have formed the lifeline between Chengdu and Chongqing for thousands of years.Ba Jin once said that in 1923, when he was 19 years old, he went from Chengdu to Shanghai. He boarded a wooden boat at Jiuyanqiao Pier and followed the Minjiang River via Leshan to Yibin, and then along the Yangtze River via Luzhou to Chongqing. It had already taken a week, and then I took a river boat in Chongqing to Shanghai.
In addition to waterways, government and private land transportation also relied on post roads. Dongda Road is the only way for Chengdu to connect to the east of Sichuan. It was first formed in Shuhan and was known as Shuba Avenue in history. Because they are walking in the opposite direction, Chongqing people starting from Tongyuanmen on the other side are accustomed to calling it Zhengxi Road. The ancient post roads that once stretched for thousands of miles have long since ceased to stretch, leaving only some traces of time in the two cities to the east and west.
The increasingly busy exchange of materials has made the rugged ancient post roads and climate-affected waterways unable to meet transportation needs. At this time, China was already experiencing a boom in railway construction. Only Sichuan did not have an inch of railway.
Building a railway has become the most urgent wish of Sichuan people, but the road to realizing their wishes is not smooth sailing.
03
Nearly half a century of waiting
According to the "Chengdu-Chongqing Railway Project Summary" published in 1953, the proposal to build the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway can be traced back to 1903. At that time, the governor of Sichuan, Xiliang, and the governor of Huguang, Zhang Zhidong, jointly petitioned the Qing government to build the Sichuan-Hankou Railway in order to gain sovereignty. The scheduled route of the Sichuan-Hankou Railway starts from Chengdu, Sichuan, passes through Neijiang, Chongqing, and Yichang, and ends at Hankou, Hubei. The Chengdu-Chongqing Railway was originally an integral part of the Sichuan-Hankou Railway.
Stock of Sichuan-Hankou Railway Co., Ltd. in the late Qing Dynasty
In January 1904, the government-run Sichuan-Hankou Railway Company was established in Yuefu Street, Chengdu, and was changed to a commercial company in 1907. People from all walks of life in Sichuan began to actively raise funds to build roads. The main source of equity capital was "shares based on rent. If the rent collected is more than ten dan, three percent will be taken." Therefore, the construction of the Sichuan-Hankou Railway has been closely connected with the economic interests of the Sichuan people from the beginning. .
In November 1909, Zhan Tianyou went south to Yichang. On December 10, as the chief engineer of the Sichuan-Hankong Railway, Zhan Tianyou presided over the groundbreaking ceremony of the Yiwan Section of the first section of the Sichuan-Hankong Railway. He "announced to the whole world that the Sichuan-Hankou Railway has started construction." Chinese and foreign newspapers reported that not borrowing foreign funds or hiring foreign technicians was regarded as a miracle. But such a "wonderful thing" did not last long. In May 1911, in the name of state-owned railways, the Qing government borrowed money from a consortium of banks from Britain, France, Germany and the United States to build roads and sold the rights of way. The contract also stipulated that the Sichuan-Hankou Railway must use chief engineers from the United States and Germany.
of Luoquan Town, Sichuan Zizhong , the salt industry has been developed since ancient times, and the local gentry and people respected the Xinyi culture. After the road protection movement was launched, Alliance members Longming Sword chose to hold the famous "Luoquan Conference" in this loyal and patriotic place with hidden terrain. The meeting had only one theme, which was to promote peaceful road protection. Armed uprising. A month later, thousands of people rose up in resistance on Duyuan Street, which was only about 200 meters away in Chengdu, Sichuan.
Relief of Sichuan Road Protection Movement
After the "Chengdu Murder Case" occurred, Long Mingjian wrote the facts on wood chips, then brushed them with tung oil, made a "water telegraph" and threw it into Jinjiang River. Coinciding with the rising of the river, in less than a day, the "water telegram" spread almost throughout the southwest, and an armed uprising was about to break out.
The " Xinhai Qiu Bao Road Memorial Monument " was built to commemorate the martyrs who sacrificed their lives in the road protection movement. It still stands in Chengdu People's Park, surrounded by flowers, and is looked up at by people passing by.
The Monument to the Deaths of Xinhai Qiubao Road is located in People's Park of Chengdu.
The Sichuan Road Protection Movement contributed to the success of the Wuchang Uprising , and China has since changed dynasties. But the railway that changed the destiny of the Chinese people finally stopped at 7.5 kilometers of the Yiwan section. From the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, the people in southwest China had been looking forward to this railway for nearly half a century, but they did not see an inch of rails.
(Partial data source: China Railway Chengdu Bureau Group Co., Ltd. )
