Everyone has learned about Zhan Tianyou’s construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway from elementary school textbooks. Today, we will introduce Zhan Tianyou, the outstanding patriotic engineer who built the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. In those years of internal and external troubles and dire straits, let us understand together what difficulties and hardships Zhan Tianyou went through at the beginning, and finally how he overcame all the difficulties and achieved this great feat.
Zhan Tianyou is an outstanding patriotic engineer. The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway he built is the first railway trunk line built entirely by the Chinese themselves. This railway has a total length of 200 kilometers and is a key passage connecting North China and Northwest China. Whether it was then or now, this railway is of great significance.
When the Qing government proposed to build this main railway line, some imperialist countries stepped forward to obstruct it in every possible way. They have asked the Qing court for the power to build this main railway line. There is no doubt that they hope to expand the scope of control in northern China by building this railway.
The Qing court knew all about their ideas, but there was nothing they could do. For one thing, many great powers could not afford the Qing court at all, and the road was mostly high mountains, deep streams and cliffs. Cliff, China had no engineers with such strength at that time. At the same time, the imperialists continued to pressure the Qing court. They stated that if China did not give them the privilege of building railways, they would no longer bother about China's railway construction.
It was in this critical situation that Zhan Tianyou stood up and bravely assumed the task of building the railway. At that time, the imperial powers were still laughing at China. They said that Chinese engineers with this ability were never born, but they were wrong. At that time, China already had a group of outstanding and patriotic railway engineers, such as Zhan Tianyou.
In 1905, Zhan Tianyou was formally appointed as the chief engineer to build the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. The Chinese are proud and have high hopes for Zhan Tianyou, while foreigners shake their heads and wait to see the Chinese jokes. Only this time, let them down.
Actually, there are reasons why foreigners think that Chinese railway engineers do not have this ability. It turns out that to complete the construction of this main railway line, it is necessary to pass from the south entrance to the north through Juyongguan and then to Badaling. The process is full of high mountains, deep streams and steep cliffs. With such a difficulty, even the best foreign railway engineers dare not be sure that they can complete it, but Zhan Tianyou still accepted the task resolutely, and he wants to be proud of China.
After receiving the mission, Zhan Tianyou began careful field exploration. Regardless of rain, snow, strong wind, hot sun or hail, Zhan Tianyou must personally explore the data. He needs to know where there are high mountains and low valleys, what the drop is, and how to level it. In order to make careful calculations, Zhan Tianyou often carries theodolite and benchmarks on his back to survey and map on site. Everyone has heard of the wild sand outside the Great Wall, but no matter who comes forward and how to persuade, Zhan Tianyou still has to do it himself.
He surveys and maps during the day and draws at night. He discusses with the best domestic engineers and will also ask local farmers where there is a suitable route. He knows the situation in China at that time. If he fails, it means that our country has to take a step back internationally. At that time, China had no retreat. At the same time, the construction team is also facing funding issues. In order to save money, Zhan Tianyou boldly implemented the "herringbone" design, which perfectly solved the funding problem and saved more than 200,000 taels of silver for the Qing court.
On August 11, 1909, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was officially completed. Zhan Tianyou spent a total of 6.39 million taels of silver, and his budget was 7.29 million taels. After the completion of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, the powers were all dumbfounded. They simply couldn't imagine how this main railway line, which runs through dangerous places, was completed in just a few years.
This precious main railway line has been preserved to this day. It was applied for as a cultural relic protection unit in 2008 and became the first batch of industrial heritage protection in my country in 2018.The list is a testimony of history and an important testimony that our Chinese nation does not bow to the powers. Engineer Zhan Tianyou has shown the wisdom and backbone of the Chinese people with his own actions. This quality has been passed down perfectly, and now a more prosperous new China has emerged.
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