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A Study On Beijing-Suiyuan Railway (1905-1937)

Posted on:2012-10-17Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:H L DuanFull Text:PDF
GTID:1119330335474965Subject:History of science and technology
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The so-called Beijing-Suiyuan (Jing-Sui for short) Railway means from Beijing to Baotou. It was built on the base of Beijing-Zhangjiakou (ab. Jing-Zhang) Railway in 1905-1923 years, while the latter is the first self-directed railway in the modern history of China.Through classifications and analysises of relevant historical literatures, we think that the government of the late Qing Dynasty has ever experienced different attitudes on building railways from refusing to trying before accepting. In this process, military concerns are an important factor; After the Jiawu Sino-Japanese War, foreign loans for railway constructions are kind of colonial and invasive in nature, and domestic engineers were seriously dependent on. the foreigners'help for a long period of time; As outsiders and foreign funds gradually infiltrated into the Chinese railway rights, the voice of calling for self-management was rising. Additionally, the established policy for the railroad construction provides a good background for the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. One thing to be mentioned is that the construction of Song-Hu railway by Foreigners was due to the connivance from Chinese officials, instead of deceit. Actually the public had different attitudes contrary to the refuse of the government at that time.Taking original literatures as main references, this thesis investigates raising-funds, personnel arrangements, route measurements and construction progresses in order to make detailed descriptions for the construction of tunnels and the design of bridges from the view of technology. Most of sources of funds are found to be from the profit margin of the Guangneiwai Railway, and a small amount of them were allocated by the government; Among main engineers, except for two young Children, Zhan-Tianyou and Ye-Deqing who had studied in America, the rest of them were all from the Tianjin Beiyang Wubei school, such as Chen-Xilin, Yu-Renfeng, Zhai-Zhaolin, Cai-Junchou. Zhan-Tianyou repeatedly surveyed possible routines and then determined to adopt the zigzag line to shorten the length of the tunnel so as to successfully stride across the Badaling. The opening-well method speeded up the process of excavating the Badaling tunnel. Under limited conditions, these engineers chose an optimized route which is the key to success of the Jing-Zhang Railway. In the process of constructing railroads, Zhan-Tianyou tried to save money by using local materials, setting temporary factories and mines, replacing cement with rubble and so on. The Jing-Zhang railway is a successful example of independent implementations of railway technology in China. This thesis argues that Zhan-Tianyou and his leadership were critical factors, while the government's full support also played an important role.The authors investigate the building processes of workshops and water towers and branch lines along the Jing-Zhang Railway. Through analyzing the reasons of success, we think that the realization of the Jing-Zhang Railway benefited from the national unity and unselfish dedication of all technical workers even at that time when the whole national strength was still very weak.To start with fund raising and route survey, we inspect the construction process of the Zhangjiakou-Baotou Railway with emphasis on the analysis of the Nankou factory and Zhangjiakou factory for their different times. The route selections of the Zhang-Sui railway not only considered the difficulty of the project, but also took into account future economic benefits and traffic connections. As the domestic situation was unsettled and turbulent at the times of Northern Warlords, the funds could not be in place in time, and the project was suspended twice. After the Fengzhen railway, the rest projects were completed by raising funds eight times and Japanese loan funds also were used during that period. Because of tight deadlines, financial shortages, unguaranteed project quality, some facilities, e.g., the stations and signals can only be improved until the times of the Nanjing Government. The personnel and funds preparation for the Zhang-Sui Railway are the extensions of the Jing-Zhang Railway. However, due to different historical periods, there existed big differences on the availability of funds, project quality and process. It indicated that the social environment was an important external factor for technology implementations.By examining purchases and management operations of railway vehicles, we find that, as one of the main traffic lines in the northwest region, the Jing-Sui Railway was thought to play a huge impact on the trade exchange between the Northwest and the internal mainland and thus gave birth to the city of Jining and made Baotou turn a big city from a small town and also affected the urban patterns of Datong and Hohhot. The Jing-Sui Railway also actively promoted the process of modernization of the surrounding areas and played important roles on the economic development in Northwest China, city formation and relief aid. Since the social situations were very unsettled in that period, managers were frequently changed with the military and political situation and consequently the management work was once chaotic. So the military interferences seriously affected the normal operation of the Jing-Sui Railway. The rules and regulations of the Jing-Sui Railway, such as 'Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway engineering notes','Jing-Zhang Railway standard drawings' and 'Ping-Sui Railway technology proceedings' are important historical materials that were left to future generations. By the overall analysis of the 'Ping-Sui Railway technology proceedings' for the first time, it is found that this journal focused on foreign advanced railway technology. So the timely introduction of new technology has a role of realistic guidance.From on-site visiting the remains of the Jing-Sui Railway, we find that parts of Jing-Zhang Railway have received special attention and protection, but still face vanishing; Till now, the Zhang-Sui Railway has the building remains during the Min-guo times, which needs further more thorough research and in-depth studies of the value of its industrial heritage. We think that the nearly one-century-old Jing-sui Railway is a witness of Chinese developments for a recent hundred year. It is a model that the railroad technology is locally realized in China and thus has important values in science, history, and economics in the aspect of industrial heritage. However, due to lack of complete research and protection, it needs mutual collaborations from different relevant departments and some well-organized research groups to make an overall assessment.Through "analyzing, sorting and comparing the original historical references with combination of on-site survey, this thesis concludes that since the Jing-Sui Railway China has realized the railway technology localization in our domestic land. From this work, it can be proved that many factors together can guarantee successful implementations of railway technology, such as good external environments, adequate funds, and skilled and cooperative teams as well as construction and management. The modern railways have played a tremendous impact on socioeconomics along their passing ways. The Jing-Sui Railway has witnessed centuries of history of China, hence, it is necessary to make an in-depth investigation on the values of its remains.
Keywords/Search Tags:railway history, Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, Zhangjiakou-Suiyuan Railway, Beijing-Suiyuan Railway, industrial heritage
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