Information about Zhan Tianyou - Introduction to Zhan Tianyou
Zhan Tianyou, also known as Juancheng. Born in Nanhai County, Guangdong in 1861. On July 8, 1872, Zhan Tianyou, who was only 12 years old, became one of the first batch of Chinese government-sponsored students to study in the United States.
Zhan Tianyou studied at Weihafen Elementary School and Nuhafen Middle School in the United States. He graduated from Yale University with honors in 1881 and wrote his graduation thesis entitled "Research on Wharf Cranes". Obtained a bachelor's degree and returned to China in the same year. After returning to China, Zhan Tianyou studied at the Mawei Shipbuilding Academy. After completing his studies, he was sent to the Fujian Navy flagship "Yangwu" as a gunner and participated in the Mawei naval battle. After the war, he was transferred to Huangpu Naval Academy to teach.
The flagship of the Fujian Navy "Yangwu"
In 1888, Zhan Tianyou was recommended by his old classmate Kuang Sunmou to work as an engineer at the China Railway Company. Zhan Tianyou, who had been hidden for seven years, had the opportunity to devote himself to the railway industry of the motherland. At this time, the Tianjin-Tangshan Railway was under construction. He did not want to stay in Tianjin for a long time, so he went to the construction site in person and shared the joys and sorrows with the workers. As a result, it was completed and opened to traffic in only eighty days. However, Li Hongzhang took advantage of the merits of the Englishman Jinda and promoted Jinda to chief engineer. Zhan Tianyou's work was plagiarized in this way.
In 1890, the Qing government also built the Guanwai Railway (today’s Beijing-Shenyang Railway), with Jinda as the chief engineer. In 1892, the project progressed to the Luanhe River Bridge. Many countries wanted to take over this business. Of course, Jinda put the British first, but the British Kakes failed because they could not build the bridge. Japanese and German contractors also suffered failures. As the delivery deadline was approaching, Jinda had no choice but to turn to Zhan Tianyou. After Zhan Tianyou made a detailed analysis of the reasons for the failure of various countries and conducted careful measurement and research on the geological soil at the bottom of the Luanhe River, he decided to change the pile site and use traditional Chinese methods, using Chinese divers to dive into the bottom of the river and operate machines, and he succeeded. The piling task was completed and the Luanhe River Bridge was built. This victory has boosted the ambition of the Chinese people. In 1894, the British Engineering Research Society elected Zhan Tianyou as a member of the society.
After that, Zhan Tianyou led the construction of Beijing-Tianjin Road, Pingli Road (Pingxiang to Liling) and other railways.
In order to please the Nala family, Yuan Shikai petitioned in 1902 to build a Xinyi Railway (Gaobeidian to Yixian) exclusively for the royal family to worship their ancestors. Nara was naturally happy to take the train to worship his ancestors. In order not to miss the opportunity to worship ancestors in 1903, Yuan Shikai was ordered to complete the project within six months. Yuan Shikai appointed Zhan Tianyou as chief engineer. Although this road is of little value, it is the beginning of Chinese self-built railways, so Zhan Tianyou still attaches great importance to it. Zhan Tianyou completely abandoned the convention that foreigners had to dry the roadbed for a year before laying tracks, and built the Xinyi Railway in only four months at a very low cost. This greatly inspired the Chinese people's confidence in building their own railways and laid a good foundation for the subsequent construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway.
Zhangjiakou is the gateway from Beijing to Inner Mongolia. The passage for traveling merchants from the north to the south has always been a must for military strategists. Therefore, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway has important economic and political value. When the news came out that the Qing government was going to build roads in Beijing, Britain, which had the most influence in China, was determined to win. Tsarist Russia, which regarded the area north of the Great Wall as its sphere of influence, vowed not to give in. The two sides argued and finally reached an agreement: if the Qing government did not borrow foreign debt, , no foreign craftsmen are needed, it is all done by the Chinese themselves, and neither side reaches out. In this way, the Qing government gave up the idea of ??seeking help from foreigners and focused on self-study.
In May 1905, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway General Administration and Engineering Bureau were established, with Chen Zhaochang as the general office and Zhan Tianyou as the general office and chief engineer. In 1906, Zhan Tianyou was promoted to the general office and chief engineer. Zhan Tianyou clearly knew the difficulty of this task. He first had to withstand cynicism from all sides: some said he was "overestimating his capabilities", "just spent a few dollars", and even said he was "daring". He said this in a letter to his American teacher Mrs. Northop: "If the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Project fails, it will not only be my misfortune, but also the misfortune of the Chinese engineers. It will also bring great losses to China. After I accept this task Before and after, many foreigners openly claimed that Chinese engineers could not undertake the arduous projects of stonework and caves on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Line, but I insisted on my project." It fully reflects the patriotism and national responsibility of Chinese intellectuals.
Zhan Tianyou surveyed three routes, and it was not advisable to take the second detour too far. The third line is today's Fengsha Line. Due to limited funding from the Qing government and tight time, Zhan Tianyou decided to take the first route, which was from Fengtai north to Xizhimen, Shahe, via Nankou, Juyongguan, Badaling, Huailai, Jimingyi, Xuanhua to Zhangjiakou, with a total length of 360 miles. The difficulty of the whole line lies in Guangou. This area is full of mountains and cliffs. The engineering difficulty was unprecedented in the country at that time and rare in the world. The slope is extremely steep, and the height difference between the south entrance and Badaling is 180 feet. Zhan Tianyou divided the entire line into three sections: the first section from Fengtai to Nankou, the second section from Nankou to Kangzhuang, and the third section from Yu.
Construction officially started on September 4, 1905, and track laying began on December 12. On the first day of track laying, a coupler chain of a construction vehicle broke, causing a derailment accident. This suddenly became evidence that the Chinese could not build their own railways, and all kinds of slanders and slanders came one after another. But Zhan Tianyou did not panic. Instead, he thought calmly: This road has an extremely steep slope. If the connection between each carriage is slightly weak, an accident will be inevitable. To this end, he used the automatic hooking method and finally solved the problem.
On September 30, 1906, the first section of the project was opened to traffic, and the second section of the project started at the same time. The difficulty lies in the second section. First, the four tunnels of Juyongguan, Wuguitou, Shifosi and Badaling must be opened. The longest Badaling tunnel is 1,092 meters. This requires not only precise calculations and correct command, but also new types of mountain excavation machines, ventilators and water pumps. The former was no problem for Zhan Tianyou, but the latter was not available in China at the time and only relied on the hands of workers. You can imagine how difficult it was. They overcame many difficulties and finally completed the second section of the project in September 1908.
The difficulty of the third section of the project is second only to Guangou. The first thing encountered is the Huailai Bridge, which is the longest bridge on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Road. It consists of seven 100-foot-long steel beams. Built up. Thanks to Zhan Tianyou's correct command, it was completed in time. On April 2, 1909, the train arrived at Xiahuayuan. Although the section of the branch road from Xiahuayuan to Jimingyi mining area is not long, the project is extremely difficult. It faces the Yang River on the right and the rocky mountain on the left. A six-foot-deep channel should be opened on the mountain, and a seven-mile-long river bed should be raised at the foot of the mountain. Zhan Tianyou used the stones from the mountain to pave the way for the river bed at the foot of the mountain. In order to prevent flash floods from impacting the roadbed, cement bricks were used to protect it, and the third section was successfully completed.
Zhan Tianyou never paid attention to the difficulties in the project, but the man-made obstacles made Zhan Tianyou extremely worried and angry. There was a man named Guangzhai in Qinghe, who was a former Taoist priest and a relative of the royal family Zaize. He was powerful in both the government and the public. The railway happened to pass through his cemetery, so he led the crowd to cause trouble and stopped the project. He privately offered heavy bribes and demanded a diversion. The Postal and Communications Department didn't dare to ask. To the north is the tomb of King Zheng, to the south is the tomb of the eunuchs, and to the west is the tomb of Nala's father, Gong Gui. It would take a lot of time and money to completely change the route. Zhan Tianyou regarded taking bribes as a shameful thing and would never change his ways. He actually fought hard to stay or leave. In the end, because the five ministers were bombed while abroad, Zai Ze was too frightened to hear about foreign affairs. Only then did Guangzhai lose his backer and agreed to pass through his tomb wall.
The Nala family spent tens of millions of dollars every year to repair the Summer Palace, but they were unwilling to pay for road construction. The funds for the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway depended entirely on the surplus from the railways inside and outside Guanhai, but this money was controlled by the British HSBC Bank. When the second section of the project was entering, HSBC deliberately made things difficult and delayed the payment of wages, causing delays in work. Zhan Tianyou was not good at cooperating with the powerful, and he was even more ashamed to cater to foreigners, so he was extremely angry.
Imperialism always wants to seize this road. As soon as the project started, the Japanese Keijiro Amamiya wrote to Yuan Shikai, saying: The Chinese are unable to build this road, so it is safer to hire Japanese technicians. The Englishman Jinda also came to argue for Japan. Zhan Tianyou flatly refused on the grounds that he would never use any foreigner on this road. After the Juyongguan tunnel project started, groups of foreigners often came to spy on it in the name of hunting. They hoped that the project would fail so that they could take advantage of others' danger. Zhan Tianyou gave this voice to the Chinese with outstanding results.
Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway Completion Ceremony
This road was originally scheduled to be completed in six years. Zhan Tianyou finally opened the entire line to traffic on August 11, 1909, two years ahead of schedule, and saved 280,000 yuan. Two silver coins. The successful completion of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Road is a victory for the Chinese people and a full manifestation of the patriotic spirit of the Chinese patriotic intellectuals.
After the completion of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Road, Zhan Tianyou was invited by the Guangdong Commercial Office of the Guangdong-Hankong Railway Corporation and served as the company's prime minister in 1910. In May 1912, he also served as the Han-Guangdong-Sichuan Railway Committee Office. Due to the corruption and incompetence of the Chinese government and the imperialist competition in China, this patriotic and talented engineer was unable to display his talents and became extremely anxious. He eventually became ill due to overwork and died in Hankou at 3:30 pm on April 24, 1919 at the age of fifty-nine.
Information about Zhan Tianyou - Scientist and Technologist - Zhan Tianyou
Zhan Tianyou, courtesy name Juancheng, was born in Wuyuan, Jiangxi. He was born in an ordinary tea merchant family in 1861 (the eleventh year of Xianfeng reign in the Qing Dynasty). As a child, Zhan Tianyou was very interested in machines. He often made various machine models out of clay with the neighborhood children. Sometimes, he secretly disassembled the chiming clock at home, played with and figured out the components inside, and asked some questions that even adults could not answer. In 1872, Zhan Tianyou, who was only 12 years old, went to Hong Kong to apply for the "Preparatory Class for Young Children Going Abroad" organized by the Qing government. After passing the exam, my father signed a certificate for going abroad that stated, "If there is illness, life or death, everyone will take care of their destiny." From then on, he said goodbye to his parents and came to the United States to study with the ideal of learning Western "skills".
In the United States, students in the overseas preparatory class witnessed the great achievements of science and technology in North America and Western Europe, and were amazed by the rapid development of machines, trains, ships and telecommunications manufacturing industries. Some students became pessimistic about China's future, but Zhan Tianyou said with firm belief: "In the future, China will also have trains and ships." With the belief that he would study hard for the prosperity of his motherland, he studied hard and He graduated with honors from New Haven High School in 1867. In May of the same year, he was admitted to the Department of Civil Engineering of Yale University, specializing in railway engineering. During his four years at the university, Zhan Tianyou studied hard and ranked first in the graduation examination with outstanding results. In 1881, among the 120 Chinese students who returned to China, only two received degrees, and Zhan Tianyou was one of them.
After returning to China, Zhan Tianyou was enthusiastically preparing to contribute the skills he had learned to the railway industry of the motherland. However, the Westernization officials of the Qing government were superstitious about foreign countries and blindly relied on foreigners when building railways. They ignored Zhan Tianyou's professional expertise and sent him to the Fujian Naval Academy to learn how to sail a sea-going ship.
In November 1882, he was sent to the flagship "Yangwu" as a pilot to command drills. In 1883, the Sino-French War broke out. The following year, the long-planned French fleet entered the Min River one after another and was ready to move. However, He Ruzhang, the surrendering shipping minister in charge of the Fujian Navy, ignored him and even ordered: "You are not allowed to fire first, and those who violate the rules will be killed even if they win!" At this time, Zhan Tianyou privately ordered the "Yangwu" to Captain Zhang Cheng said: "A lot of French warships have come with ulterior motives. Although we have received orders not to fire first, we must not fail to take precautions." Due to Zhan Tianyou's warning, the "Yangwu" was very Be alert and ready for battle. When the French fleet launched a sudden attack, Zhan Tianyou braved the fierce artillery fire and calmly and tactfully directed the "Yangwu" to go left and right; avoiding the enemy's artillery fire, he seized the fighter plane and hit the French command ship "Volta" with its tail cannon. ", the French naval expedition commander Guba almost died. Regarding this naval battle, Zi Lin Xi Bao, founded by a British businessman in Shanghai, had to marvel in its report: "Westerners did not expect that the Chinese would fight so bravely. The five students on the 'Yangwu' warship , Zhan Tianyou’s performance was the most courageous. He faced the enemy without fear, and at the critical moment of life and death, he was still calm and courageous, and rescued many people in the water..."
From From the post-war period to 1888, Zhan Tianyou'er went through many twists and turns and transferred to the China Railway Company as an engineer. This was the beginning of his dedication to China's railway industry.
Not long after taking office, Zhan Tianyou encountered a test. At that time, the Jinyu Railway from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan was built to the Luanhe River, and a railway bridge was to be built across the Luanhe River. The Luanhe River bed has deep sediment, and there are rapids due to rising water. The iron bridge was originally designed by British engineers who were said to be the best in the world, but failed. Later, Japanese engineers were asked to contract the work, but it was not effective. Finally, German engineers were asked to take action, but they were also defeated soon after. Zhan Tianyou asked the Chinese to do it themselves. When the British in charge of the project were desperate, they had to agree to Zhan Tianyou to try.
Zhan Tianyou is a serious and down-to-earth person. After analyzing and summarizing the reasons for the failure of the three foreign engineers, he wore work clothes and conducted on-site investigations with the workers, (P116) close measurements. At night, with the help of a dim oil lamp, I carefully studied the geological structure of the Luanhe River bed, analyzed and compared repeatedly, and finally determined the location of the bridge piers, and boldly decided to use a new method - the "pressure caisson method" to construct the bridge piers. As expected, Zhan Tianyou succeeded in building the Luanhe River Bridge. This incident shocked the world: a Chinese engineer actually solved a big problem that three foreign engineers could not solve.
After Zhan Tianyou won the first battle, he immediately encountered a more severe test. In 1905, the Qing government decided to build my country's first railway, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway (Beijing to Zhangjiakou). Britain and Russia both wanted to intervene, but due to the strong opposition of the Chinese people, their attempts failed. The British and Russian envoys said in a threatening tone: "If the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is built by Chinese engineers themselves, it will have nothing to do with Britain and Russia." They thought that this way, China would not be able to build this railway. At this critical moment, Zhan Tianyou took over this arduous task without hesitation and took full responsibility for the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. When the news came, some imperialists and British newspapers said sarcastically: "China's engineers who can build this railway are still unborn in their mothers' wombs! If the Chinese want to build their own railways without relying on foreigners, even if it is not a dream, it will take at least five years." Ten years." They even attacked Zhan Tianyou as "arrogant" and "overestimating his capabilities" as the general office and chief engineer. Zhan Tianyou resisted the pressure and insisted not to hire a foreign engineer, and said: "China has a vast land and rich resources, but we must rely on outsiders to work along the way. I feel ashamed!" "China has woken up. The Chinese people must use their own engineers and their own money to build the railway.”
In August 1905, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway officially started construction, and the intense exploration and line selection work began. Zhan Tianyou led the survey team, carrying instruments on his back, and ran around the rugged mountains day and night. One evening, a strong northwest wind roared with sand and rocks in the Badaling area, making people unable to open their eyes. The survey team was anxious to finish their work, filled in the measured numbers, and climbed down from the rock wall. Zhan Tianyou took the book, looked through the numbers filled in, and asked doubtfully: "Are the data accurate?" "Absolutely", the survey team member replied. Zhan Tianyou said seriously: "The first requirement of technology is precision. It cannot be vague or rash. Terms like 'probably' and 'almost' should not come from the mouths of engineers." Then, he carried the instrument on his back, Braving the wind and sand, I arduously climbed up the rock wall again, carefully re-examined it, and corrected an error. When he came down, his lips were blue from the cold.
Soon, exploration and construction entered the most difficult stage. In the Badaling and Qinglongqiao area, there are overlapping mountains and steep cliffs. Four tunnels need to be opened, the longest of which is more than a thousand meters long. After precise measurements and calculations, Zhan Tianyou decided to adopt a segmented construction method: he dug from the north and south ends of the mountain at the same time, opened a large well in the middle of the mountain, and then dug in the well to the north and south ends. This not only ensures the quality of construction, but also speeds up the progress of the project. When digging a hole, a large amount of stones were dug manually with spades, and the spring water had to be picked out one by one. As the chief engineer, Zhan Tianyou had no pretensions. He dug stones and carried water together with the workers. Sludge's face was sweaty.
He also encouraged everyone: "The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is the first railway we built with our own people and our own money. The eyes of the world are looking at us, and we must succeed!" "Whether we succeed or fail, it is never ours. The success and failure are the success and failure of our country!”
In order to overcome the difficulty of driving on steep slopes and ensure that the train can safely climb Badaling, Zhan Tianyou was ingenious and creatively used the principle of “return lines” to A herringbone line was designed in the Qinglongqiao section of the mountainous area with steep slopes, thereby reducing the need for tunnel excavation and lowering the slope. When the train arrives here, it cooperates with two high-horsepower locomotives to pull and push to ensure that the train goes uphill safely.
Zhan Tianyou once put forward three requirements for the entire project: "low cost, good quality, and quick completion." After several struggles by workers, 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 ahead of schedule in only four years. The project cost was only one-fifth of the foreign estimate. Some European and American engineers praised Zhan Tianyou after taking a bus tour and praised him for his greatness. But Zhan Tianyou said modestly: "This is the strength of the more than 10,000 employees of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. It is not my personal contribution. The glory should belong to everyone."
After the completion of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, Zhan Tianyou He also succeeded him as the Supervisor and Chief Engineer of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway. At this time, the United States decided to award him a doctorate in engineering and asked him to go to the United States in person to attend the awarding ceremony. In order to fully participate in the construction of the motherland's railway, he gave up this honor.
After the Revolution of 1911, in order to revitalize the railway industry, Zhan Tianyou and his colleagues established the Chinese Engineering Society and was elected as the president. During this period, he devoted a lot of effort to the training of young engineering and technical personnel. In addition to setting an example with his own behavior, he also encouraged young people to "research academically intensively and invent with inventions" and asked them to "do not compromise oneself, favor others, and do not seek fame." And fishing for reputation. Dealing with things with sincerity, without asking for personal gain, and setting oneself with treasures as an example."
Zhan Tianyou has been engaged in the railway industry for more than 30 years, which is different from almost every railway in my country at that time. degree of relationship. In his later years, he became ill due to overwork and unfortunately died of illness in 1919. Comrade Zhou Enlai once spoke highly of Zhan Tianyou's achievements and said that he is "the glory of the Chinese people". (--Zou Yan: Zhan Tianyou, a famous science and technology scientist in the late Qing Dynasty)
Information about Zhan Tianyou - Primary school texts - Zhan Tianyou
Zhan Tianyou is an outstanding patriotic engineer in our country. The railway from Beijing to Zhangjiakou was first successfully built under his leadership. This is the first main railway line designed and constructed entirely by Chinese engineering and technical personnel.
The railway from Beijing to Zhangjiakou is 200 kilometers long and is an important transportation artery connecting North China and Northwest China. At that time, as soon as the Qing government proposed the construction plan, some imperialist countries came out to obstruct it. They all wanted to compete for the right to build this railway and wanted to further control the northern part of our country. The imperialists refused to give in to anyone, and the matter went on for a long time without being resolved. They made a condition: if the Qing government used its own engineers to build railways, they would no longer interfere. They thought that because of this threat, the railway would not be able to start construction, and they would have to turn to them in the end. The imperialists were completely wrong. China already had its own engineers at that time. Zhan Tianyou is one of them.
In 1905, the Qing government appointed Zhan Tianyou as chief engineer to build the railway from Beijing to Zhangjiakou. As soon as the news came out, the whole country was shocked. Everyone said that this time we could breathe a sigh of relief. The imperialists think this is a joke. A foreign newspaper said disdainfully: "There are no Chinese engineers who can build railways north of the south entrance yet." It turns out that from the south entrance to the north through Juyongguan and Badaling, there are high mountains, deep streams, and cliffs all the way. They believe that famous foreign engineers would not dare to attempt such an arduous project, and that the Chinese would not be able to complete it anyway.