Zhan Tianyou was born in an ordinary tea merchant's family in 186 1 year (the 11th year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty). When I was a child, Zhan Tianyou was very interested in machines, and often made various machine models with the children in the neighborhood. Sometimes, he will secretly take apart the bells at home, fiddle with the components inside and ask questions that even adults can't answer. From 65438 to 0872, Zhan Tianyou, who was only 12 years old, went to Hongkong to sign up for the preparatory class for young children going abroad organized by the Qing government. After passing the exam, my father drew a note on a certificate of going abroad, which said, "If there is illness, life and death, everyone will live in peace." After that, he left his parents and came to the United States to study with the ideal of learning western "skills".
In the United States, students in preparatory classes abroad witnessed the great achievements of science and technology in North America and Western Europe and marveled at the rapid development of machinery, trains, ships and telecommunications manufacturing. Some students are pessimistic about the future of China, but Zhan Tianyou firmly said, "In the future, there will be trains and ships in China." With the belief of studying hard for the prosperity of the motherland, he studied hard and graduated from New Haven with 1867. In May of the same year, he was admitted to the Department of Civil Engineering of Yale University, majoring in railway engineering. After four years in college, Zhan Tianyou studied hard, ranking first in the graduation examination with excellent results. 188 1 year, of the 120 overseas students who returned from China, only two got their degrees, and Zhan Tianyou was one of them.
After returning to China, Zhan Tianyou enthusiastically prepared to contribute his knowledge to the railway industry of the motherland. However, the officials of the Westernization School of the Qing government were superstitious about foreign countries, and blindly relied on foreigners when building railways, regardless of Zhan Tianyou's professional expertise, and sent him to Fujian Naval Academy to learn to drive seagoing ships. 1882 1 1 was sent to the flagship "Wu Yang" as a driving officer to direct the drill. 1883, the Sino-French war broke out. In the second year, the long-planned French fleet entered the Minjiang River in succession, ready to go. However, He Zhangru, the shipping minister of the surrendering faction in charge of Fujian Navy, turned a deaf ear and even ordered: "Don't fire first, and offenders will be beheaded even if they win!" At this time, Zhan Tianyou privately said to Mr. Zhang, the captain of the Wu Yang, "There are many French warships with ulterior motives. Although we have received an order not to fire first, we must never take preventive measures in advance. " Because of Zhan Tianyou's warning, Wu Yang is very alert and ready to fight. When the French fleet launched a surprise attack, Zhan Tianyou braved heavy artillery fire and calmly and tactfully commanded the "Wu Yang" to move forward from left to right; Avoiding enemy fire, seizing fighter planes, and bombarding the French command ship "Walter" with its tail almost killed the commander of the French naval expedition. For this naval battle, Zilin Xibao, founded by British businessmen in Shanghai, also had to be surprised and praised in different places: "Westerners didn't expect China people to fight so bravely. Of the five students aboard the Wu Yang, Zhan Tianyou is the bravest. He is fearless in the face of the enemy. At the critical moment of life and death, he is as calm as ever. He has the courage to save many people in the water ... "
From the post-war to 1888, after many twists and turns, Zhan Tianyou was transferred to China Railway Corporation as an engineer, which was the beginning of his participation in the railway industry in China.
Shortly after taking office, Zhan Tianyou was put to the test. At that time, the Tianjin-Hebei railway from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan was built to the Luanhe River, and a railway bridge across the Luanhe River was to be built. The Luanhe River bed has deep sediments and meets rising water and rapids. The railway bridge was designed by a world-class British engineer, but it failed. Later, Japanese engineers were hired as contractors, which was no good. Finally, the German engineer came out and was quickly defeated. Zhan Tianyou asked China people to do it themselves, but the Englishman in charge of the project had no choice but to agree to Zhan Tianyou's attempt.
Zhan Tianyou is a conscientious and down-to-earth person. After analyzing and summarizing the reasons for the failure of three foreign engineers, he put on work clothes and conducted a field survey with the workers, and made a close-up survey (P 1 16). At night, with the help of dim oil lamps, the geological structure of Luanhe River bed was carefully studied, analyzed and repeatedly compared, and finally the position of the pier was determined, and a new method-"pneumatic caisson method" was boldly decided to be adopted for the construction of the pier. Zhan Tianyou really succeeded, and the Luanhe River Bridge was built. This incident shocked the world: one China engineer actually solved a big problem that three foreign engineers could not complete.
After Zhan Tianyou won the first battle, he immediately encountered a more severe test. 1905, the Qing government decided to build the first railway in China-Jing-Zhang Railway. Both Britain and China wanted to intervene, but their attempts failed because of the strong opposition of the Russian people. The British and Russian envoys said in a threatening tone: "If the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was built by Russian engineers themselves, it has nothing to do with Britain and Russia." They think that, in this way, it is impossible to build a railway in China. At this critical moment, Zhan Tianyou accepted this arduous task without hesitation and was solely responsible for the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. News came that some imperialists and British newspapers sarcastically said, "The engineer who can build this railway in China has not been born in the womb! China people want to build railways without foreigners, even if it is not a dream, it will take at least 50 years. " They even attacked Zhan Tianyou, the general manager and chief engineer, for being "arrogant" and "overreaching". Under pressure, Zhan Tianyou insisted on not appointing foreign engineers, and said: "China is vast and rich in resources, and I feel ashamed to rely on outsiders all the way to work!" "China has awakened, and China people will use their own engineers and their own money to build railways."
1In August, 905, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was officially started, and intense exploration and route selection began. Zhan Tianyou personally led the students and workers, carrying benchmarks and theodolite, running around the rugged mountains day and night. One evening, the fierce northwest wind roared in Badaling area, whizzing past with dust, which made people unable to open their eyes. The survey team finished the work in a hurry, filled in the survey figures and climbed down from the rock wall. Zhan Tianyou took the notebook, looked at the figures and asked doubtfully, "Is the data accurate?" ? "Almost," replied the surveyor. Zhan Tianyou said seriously: "The first requirement of technology is accuracy, and there can be no ambiguity or rashness. Statements like' probably' and' almost' will not be said by engineers. " Then, he picked up the instrument, braved the wind and sand, climbed to the rock wall again with difficulty, carefully surveyed it and corrected a mistake. When he came down, his lips were purple with cold.
Soon, exploration and construction entered the most difficult stage. At Badaling and Qinglong Bridge, there are overlapping mountains and steep walls hanging rocks, and four tunnels will be opened, the longest of which is more than 1000 meters. After accurate calculation, Zhan Tianyou decided to adopt the method of sectional construction: simultaneously drilling from the north and south ends of the mountain, opening a large well in the middle of the mountain, and then drilling from the north and south ends in the well. This not only ensures the construction quality, but also speeds up the project progress. When digging a hole, I dug a lot of stones by hand and picked out the spewing spring water one by one. Zhan Tianyou, as the chief engineer, has no shelf. He digs stones and carries water with the workers, and his face is covered with mud and sweat. He also encouraged everyone to say, "The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is the first railway that we built with our own people and our own money. The eyes of the whole world are watching us, and we must succeed! " "No matter success or failure, it is definitely not our own success or failure, but the success or failure of our country!"
In order to overcome the difficulty of driving on steep slopes and ensure the train to climb up Badaling safely, Zhan Tianyou creatively used the principle of "turn-back line" to design a herringbone line on the steep Qinglong Bridge section in mountainous areas, which reduced the tunnel excavation and slope. When the train arrives here, it will cooperate with two high-powered locomotives to push and pull to ensure the safety of the train uphill.
Zhan Tianyou once put forward three requirements for the whole project: "less money, 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 four years ahead of schedule, and the project cost was only one-fifth of that estimated by foreigners. Some European and American engineers paid tribute to Zhan Tianyou after visiting by bus. But Zhan Tianyou said modestly: "This is the strength of more than 10,000 employees of Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, not my personal credit. Glory should belong to everyone. "
After the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was completed, Zhan Tianyou succeeded as the supervisor and chief engineer of the Guangdong-Han Railway. At this time, the United States decided to grant him a doctorate in engineering and asked him to go to the United States to attend the conferring ceremony in person. He gave up this honor in order to devote himself to the railway construction of the motherland.
After the Revolution of 1911, in order to revitalize the railway industry, Zhan Tianyou and his colleagues established the China Engineering Society, and was promoted to president. During this period, he devoted a lot of efforts to the training of young engineers and technicians. In addition to setting an example, he also encouraged young people to "study hard for invention" and asked them not to "favor one over the other, and not to fish for fame". Take others with sincerity, not yourself as a mirror. "
Zhan Tianyou has been engaged in the railway industry for more than 30 years. At that time, almost every railway in China had different degrees of relationship. Old age breaks down from overwork 19 19. Comrade Zhou Enlai once spoke highly of Zhan Tianyou's achievements, calling him "the glory of the people of China".
During the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway in Zhan Tianyou, various railway engineering standards were formulated, and a letter was sent to the government asking for national adoption. The 4-foot-8-inch standard gauge and Jenny coupler (also known as Johnny coupler and Zheng coupler, created by American Eli Jenny) still in use in China are all put forward by Zhan Tianyou. In addition, Zhan Tianyou also pays attention to the training of railway talents, and has formulated the articles of association for the promotion and transfer of engineers, which clearly stipulates the assessment and requirements of engineers, and stipulates that the remuneration of engineers is linked to the assessment results. Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway has trained many engineers in China, and the assessment regulations formulated by Zhan Tianyou have also become the object of imitation by other railways in China.
After the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was completed, Zhan Tianyou was awarded an engineering scholar by Xuan Tong and served as the examiner for international students. 19 10 served as the prime minister and engineer of Guangdong Commercial Guangdong-Han Railway Corporation, 19 12 served as the Han-Yue-Chuan Railway Association, responsible for the construction of Guangdong-Han and Sichuan-Han railways. Since then, I have lived in No.9, Eha Street, Russian Concession in Hankou (now 5 1 Dongting Street). In the same year, "China Institution of Engineers" was established and was elected as the first president. After the founding of the Republic of China, 19 13 was appointed by the government as the technical director of the Ministry of Communications, and 19 14 was awarded the second-class Baoguang Golden Harvest Chapter. 19 16, was awarded an honorary doctorate in law by the University of Hong Kong. 19 19 At the beginning of this year, as the China representative of the Far East Railway Conference supervised by the Allies, he was sent to Vladivostok and Harbin. He returned to Hankou due to illness in April and died on April 24 at the age of 59.
Zhan Tianyou and his wife Tan Juzhen were buried near Qinglongqiao Railway Station on Zhangjing Road. 1922 bronze statue of Zhan Tianyou was erected at Qinglong bridge railway station. 1987, Zhan Tianyou memorial hall was built nearby.