The Dream of the Railway

中国梦铁路情

In the late 18th century, Western Europe suffered serious soil degradation. Forest cover declined dramatically, leading a need for a new fuel to replace timber. At that time Britain had the advantage of nearby coal mines to their wealthier towns and cities. With coal as the replacement fuel, Britain's coal mines were dug deeper and deeper. By digging deeper, miners encountered water in their mines which could stagnate them from digging deeper. To solve the water problem, the British would have to figure out a way to get rid of the water. Because a coal mine has an abundance of coal, they invented a machine, running on coal, to pump the waters out of the mine, the steam engine. While early steam engines were excellent in performing this job, they weren't good for much else. They were bulky, dangerous, and extremely inefficient, turning only one to two percent of the energy they used into actual power. They were so inefficient that they were really only worth using at the mine itself, where fuel was virtually free. Indeed, despite many improvements made over the previous century, as late as 1800 almost all steam engines

were still in coal mines. If not for their use in the mines, the steam engines might not have been considered worth tinkering with and developing further. So while technological creativity was certainly important in this breakthrough, so was an important combination of more or less accidental circumstances: a very heavily deforested England, the presence of lots of coal, including outcroppings on the surface, which people had gotten used to using over the years; mines, which, as people got past the easy coal and had to dig deeper, kept filling up with water, but which were also located within easy reach of a fuel-hungry metropolis; and lots of skilled artisans, who made incremental improvements on the original steam engine, eventually making it safe and efficient enough to mount on wheels, use in factories, starting the industrial revolution. Without these combination of factors, the early steam engine might not have gone past being a interesting but rather uneconomical curiosity, a fate which seems to have befallen it in some other times and places.

As we know that the industrial revolution started in Britain a country with a much shorter history than China. While China, the nation with the world's longest history, who had the scientific basis for industrialization before any nation, failed to begin industrialization. Chinese coal deposits were just too many landlocked miles away from its core regions to be economical before railways, no matter what breakthroughs in extraction use occurred. Meaning the mines were also too far from the concentrations of skilled artisans so the nation was not well positioned for such technological change anyway. However Chinese Science did continued to develop in other fields.

In 1793, George Marcartney visited the Qianlong Emperor of China, representing Britain, as the manufacturing leaders of Europe and enthusiastic teachers of new scientific knowledge. Macartney presented a solar planetarium which he thought was a gifts that would convince the Qianlong Emperor of Britain’s dominance in science and technology. However when he visited the lavish Qing

The Copper Made Vertical Reciprocating Steam Engine which Ding Gongchen used to Build his Stream Train Model

Introduction

Drawing of the Steam Train from the Illustration of Western Steam Locomotives and Steam Boats

imperial gardens filled “with spheres, orreries, clocks, and musical automatons of exquisite workmanship” did Marcartney stop to consider the limits of his scientific apparatus. Savants in London had already ridiculed the intended gifts for China as a banal effort to redress Britain’s large deficits in the Chinese trade. When someone suggested that the Chinese might be more interested in British machinery, that was set aside out of fear that the clever Chinese would quickly learn how to copy export machinery, as American machinists mischievously had. Indeed, Macartney never presented the pulleys, air pump, chemical and electrical contrivances, or steam

The Idea to Lay Rail Tracks on a Steep Cliff Came from the Plank Roads Built on the Face of the Cliffs in China

engine models that he had on board. Nor did he present the chronometer, also brought as a possible gift. Such items on his ship would have impressed and convinced the Emperor, to open up to trade with Britain and assisted China to industrialize earlier, mutual benefits between the 2 nations. In fear that an Industrialized China would become more powerful then them, the British would not sell anything high tech products to China, but start an illegal opium drug trade which earned them large sums of money and putting China into immense catastrophe.

March 1839, Viceroy of Huguang, Lin Zexu arrived in Guangdong to eliminate the opium trade. He was a formidable bureaucrat known for his competence and high moral standards, with an imperial commission from the Daoguang Emperor to halt the illegal importation of opium by the British. Upon arrival, he made changes

within a matter of months. He arrested more than 1,700 Chinese opium dealers and confiscated over 70,000 opium pipes. A month and a half later, the merchants gave up nearly 1.2 million kg of opium. June 3, 1839, 500 workers labored for 23 days to destroy the opium, mixing it with lime and salt and throwing it into the sea outside the Humen Town. Lin composed an elegy, apologizing to the gods of the sea for polluting their realm. This angered the British who then declared war on China, marking the 1st Opium War. China unfortunately lost the war. This lead to the realization to the need for China to industrialize. Among those who was aware of China's situation was a

Railway Construction in the Qing Dynasty

Chinese merchant, Ding Gongchen (丁拱辰). In the year 1843, he wrote a book, Yan Pao Tu Shuo Ji Yao (演炮图说辑要). Within this book, he written the Illustration of Western Steam Locomotives and Steam Boats (西洋火轮车火轮船图说) where it states that Ding himself has seen a small train in person. Being knowledgeable about machine building, he constructed a model of a steam train, himself. It's size was 632.7mm long, 199.8mm wide and weighed 15kg. The model was equipped with a copper made vertical reciprocating steam engine.

Railway Construction in the Qing Dynasty:

In the latter half of the 19th century, when China put into turmoil, under the bloodiest civil war of that time and before, many people went into poverty. In desperation to get out of poverty, some people traveled to the American Continent to find work. These Chinese laborers and technicians

Chinese Workers Risking their Lives, Building the Railway on the Steep Cliffs of Cape Horn

had played a key role in laying railway tracks in the United States and Canada, especially on the western part of these two countries of North America. At that time taking a journey from the east of the US to it's west or vice versa required to sail long journey that may take months. To shorten the trip, the US Government approved to build the world's first Transcontinental Railroad, connecting the east and west part of the US. Chinese labor was integral to the construction of this railway. Construction began in 1863 at the terminal points of Omaha, Nebraska and Sacramento, California. In 1865, a large number of Chinese workers were recruited. The idea for the use of

Zhan Tianyou, the Great Father and Genious of Chinese Railways

Chinese labor came from the manager of the Central Pacific Railroad, Charles Crocker who had trouble persuading his business partners of the fact that the mostly weedy, slender looking Chinese workers were suitable for the heavy physical work. For the Central Pacific Railroad, hiring Chinese as opposed to whites kept labor costs down by a third, since the company would not pay for their board or lodging. This type of steep wage inequality was commonplace at the time. Eventually Crocker overcame shortages of manpower and money by hiring Chinese immigrants to do much of the back-breaking and dangerous labor. He drove the workers to the point of exhaustion. The Central Pacific track was constructed primarily by Chinese immigrants. Even though at first they were thought to be too weak or fragile to do this type of work, after the first day in which Chinese were on the line, the decision was made to hire as many as could. Chinese workers were hardworking and performed well. In not time they laid their tracks all the way to Sierra Nevada's steep cliffs of Cape Horn where the construction came to a halt. The engineers of Central Pacific Railroad just could not figure out how get through the steep and cliffs. Surprisingly, the Chinese workers figured the solution to solve the problem, an embarrassment to the all those professional white engineers, involved in the project. The solution comes from the construction of the plank road built along the face of a cliff (栈道) which the Chinese have been doing for thousands of years, as the plank roads are commonly seen at cliffs of great rivers in China. The workers suggested to have them placed in baskets, tied on ropes, then lowered from the top of the cliffs to the level where the rail tracks were to be laid. Once leveled, the workers would dynamite blasts in the rock face of the cliff. The worker would be leveled up quickly to avoid the explosion but sadly

many died because they were not pulled up on time. In a few weeks, the track bed on the cliffs were ready after many dynamite blasted. After 2 years of harsh labour, Chinese workers successfully tunneled through Sierra Nevada, sacrificing nearly a thousand lives. However Central Pacific Railroad remained ungrateful as Chinese were paid $30/month while white workers were given $35/month. Additionally, meals were given to white workers while Chinese workers had to buy their own food instead. Some of the officials in Central Pacific Railroad suggested that Chinese workers perform much better than white workers so they deserved to have their salary raised to $40/month. June 1867, Central Pacific Railroad raised the Chinese workers salary to $35/month, however this remains unfair because white workers salary was raised to $40/month. The Chinese were finally aware of the discrimination against them. June 25, 1867, unsatisfied with the unjust treatment and the low paid harsh conditions, the Chinese workers united as one and went on strike. Charles Crocker responded by visiting the Chinese workers site, personally meeting the representatives of the Chinese

workers. Chinese workers offered a fair demand, their salary raised to $40/month, just like the white workers, and their working hours reduced to 10 hours/day. Sadly Crocker stated that he would not raise their salary, not even a dollar. The next day Chinese worker would make another fair demand, their salary raised to $45/month because they were able to perform a much better job than white workers. Central Pacific Railroad responded cruely. As the workers depended on the railway to deliver their food, Central Pacific Railroad ceased food delivery leaving the poor Chinese workers to starve. The starving Chinese were left no choice but to commence work.

The well organized Chinese teams remained to be highly industrious and exceedingly efficient, at the peak of the construction work, shortly before completion of the railroad, more than 11,000 Chinese were involved with the project. Although the white European workers had higher wages and better working conditions, their share of the workforce was never more than 10 percent. As the Chinese railroad workers lived and worked

Luan River Bridge, the Railway Bridge Foreigners Failed to Design and Zhan Tianyou Successfully Built

tirelessly, they also managed the finances associated with their employment, and Central Pacific officials responsible for employing the Chinese, even those at first opposed to the hiring policy, came to appreciate the cleanliness and reliability of this group of laborers. May 10, 1869, the railway was finally completed, seven years ahead of the government's deadline. It created a nationwide mechanized transportation network that revolutionized the population and economy of the American West. This network caused the wagon trains of previous decades to become obsolete, exchanging it for a modern transportation system. After 1869, the Southern Pacific Railroad and

World's 1st Upwards Zig Zag Railway, Built by Zhan Tianyou

Northwestern Pacific Railroad led the expansion of the railway network further into the American West, and many of the Chinese who had built the transcontinental railroad remained active in building the railways. After several projects were completed, many of the Chinese workers relocated and looked for employment elsewhere, such as in farming, manufacturing firms, garment industries, and paper mills. However, widespread anti-Chinese discrimination and violence from whites, including riots and murders, drove many into self-employment.

In 1876, Li Hongzhang discovered rich coal deposits near the city of Tangshan. As coal was the source of industrialization, Li decided to build China's first commercial railway, the Tangshan - Xugezhuang Railway, to transport coal to the city, where the coal could shipped to Tianjin and Shanghai. Li found additional support for the project to in the capability of the railway line to efficiently shift military supplies to the newly built

Beiyang Navy. The project was completed in 1881, the same year when China built their first steam train which runs under a steam boiler.

1890, the Qing government began to build the Beijing-Shenyang railway. A British engineer, C.W Kinder was appointed the chief engineer. However, in 1892 when the project proceeded to Luan River Bridge, with the intention of keeping all benefit for the British, Kinder, who was completely trusted by Li Hongzhang, contracted the bridge project to a British, who could not possibly built the bridge. Afterwards, the contractors from Japan and Germany followed but all failed. Seeing that the deadline of the project was approaching, Kinder was completely on edge and had to ask a Chinese Engineer, Zhan Tianyou (詹天佑), for help instead. After

analyzing the failure of foreign engineers and having surveyed the soil under the Luan River, Zhan decided to change the site of the pillars. He sent divers to the bottom of the river to assist the machine in building the pillars. In this way, the pillars were successfully established and the bridge soon completed. From then on, people looked at Zhan with new eyes and in 1894 the British Engineering Society also elected Zhan as a member.

In 1902, in order to please the Empress Dowager Cixi, Governor of Zhili Province, Yuan Shikai, submitted a report to build the Xinyi Railway (from Gaobeidian to Yi County) for the imperial family to pay rituals to their ancestors. In order to have the railway built before the 1903 ceremony, Cixi ordered Yuan to complete the railway in 6 months. At this time, the first person that came into Yuan's mind was Zhan Tianyou. It can be said that this short railway which was intended to please Cixi provided Zhan an opportunity to boldly experiment with railways to be built by the Chinese. Despite having foreigners claiming that the rail could not be completed within a year, Zhan still took this chance very seriously. It took him only 4

The Train Automatic Hook, the Chinese Invention which Helped Zhan Tianyou Continue Building the Upward Zig Zag Railway

months and an extremely low budget for him complete the railway. From then on, Zhan became even more confident that the Chinese could certainly build their own railways.

May 1905, the Beijing - Zhangjiakou Railway Bureau and the Engineering Bureau were set up with Chen Zhaochang as the head and Zhan Tianyou the chief engineer. In 1906, Zhan was promoted to head and chief engineer. Zhan surveyed three routes. The third route is the present Fengsha Route. Due to the limited funds from the Qing government and the scarcity of time, Zhan Tianyou decided to take the first route, from Fengtai up north to Xizhi Gate, Shahe, Nankou, Juyong Guan, Dadaling, Huailai, Jiming Yi, Xuanhua to Zhangjiakou, totaling 180 kilometers. The difficulty of the route lies in Guangou, which features high mountains and precipitous cliffs. Its difficulty

The Qinglongqiao Railway Station which has Already Boasted a Zero Error for a Century

was unprecedented in China at that time. The gradient of the slope was high and the height difference between Nankou and Badaling is 594 meters. Zhan Tianyou divided the whole route into 3 sections, from Fengtai to Nankou as the 1st section, from Nankou to Kangzhuang as the 2nd section and the rest the 3rd section. August 1905, the construction of Beijing - Zhangjiakou railway officially began and so did the surveying and route-selection work. Together with students and workers, Zhan spent days and nights in the mountain carrying measuring poles and transit. One evening, the fierce northwest wind blew around Badaling, making it difficult even to keep one's eyes open. To finish the work as soon as possible, the measuring team quickly wrote down a figure that had just been taken and climbed back from the cliffs. Taking over the note, Zhan glanced at the figure and questioned: "Is the figure accurate?" "More or less," replied the team member. Zhan Tianyou said, in a serious tone: "The first requirement in engineering is precision. There must be no vagueness and rashness. Such words as 'probably' or 'more or less', must not come from an engineering worker." Afterwards, he shouldered the instruments and braved the wind to

climb up the cliff again. He carefully resurveyed and corrected an error. When he came back, his lips were frozen purple. Soon, the surveying and construction entered the most difficult stage. Four tunnels must be built around the mountainous Badaling and Qinglong Bridge, the longest of them being over 1000 meters. After careful measuring and calculating, Zhan Tianyou decided to carry on the engineering by steps. They would dig simultaneously from the north and the south; a big well would also be built in the middle of the mountain so that they could also dig both ways from within the well. In this way, both the engineering quality and the speed can be

guaranteed. In digging the tunnel, stones and rabbles had to be removed spade by spade and the water had to be carried out barrel by barrel. Regardless of his position as chief engineer, Zhan Tianyou laboured with the workers in mud and sweat. He encouraged them and said: "The Beijing-Zhangjiakou railway is the first railway built by ourselves and with our own money. Eyes around the world are watching. We must succeed. Whether we succeed or fail, it is not simply to ourselves. It is the success or failure of our nation." To overcome the gradient problems of steep slopes, Zhan invented the world's 1st zigzag upward railway and employed two locomotives to drive a train in such areas with one pulling at one end and the other pushing at the opposite end. To speed up the construction of long tunnels, Zhan drilled vertical shafts in the middle and then tunneled simultaneously in different directions. Track-laying began on December 12, 1905. Just on the first day of track-laying, a hook on an engineering cart broke and caused a derail accident. This accident was

Gallery of the World's Greatest on the World's Highest Railway

suddenly taken as proof that the Chinese were incapable of building railways and all kinds of slander came. However, instead of panicking, Zhan calmly solved the problem. Because the slope was very steep, connection between carts failed, an accident would be unavoidable. To solve the problem, he used the train automatic hook (火车自动挂钧) to keep the train carriages hooked together safely. Today, the train automatic hook is still commonly used around the world. Because it was believed to be invented by Zhan Tianyou, the hook was nicked named as the Zhan Tianyou hook however in the article, Zhan Tiayou said the Train Automatic Hook was invented by

MTV of the Song, Heavenly Road, Singer is Gong Yue (龔玥)

the Chinese (詹天佑说，火车自动挂钧是中国工人的发明), written by Guo Wenyuan (郭民原) mentions that, in 1917, the author, Guo, meeting Zhan at Hankou (汉口) where he asked Zhan about how he invented the train automatic hook. Zhan would cheerfully reply to Guo saying "Oh that! Well I myself has always been a busy man so I certainly couldn't have had the time to invent it. The hook was invented by a worker who was responsible for hooking the train carriages together. So yes! The train automatic hook is a Chinese invention however I am not the inventor. (哪有此事！哪有此事！我自己本分的事都忙不过来，哪里还有工夫去管挂车这种事呢？这自动挂钩倒是一个中国人发明的，但决不是我。)" Guo then asked: "Who is the inventor? (发明者是何人？)" Zhan replied: "Unfortunately nobody knows his name. All I can remember was that he was one of

Construction of the World's Highest RailwayPRC in the Olympics

the stations worker who was in charge of hooking the train carriages. (可惜此人的姓名己被埋没了，他是某车站一个挂钩工人。)" In 1908, construction of the Qinglongqiao Railway Station, also part of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, began. Since the station was completed, it boasted a zero-error record for the past century and witnessed the rapid expansion of the railway network in China. In 1909, railway was finally completed. Zhan was awarded the Engineering Jinshi by the Qing Government. Later he was appointed as the Chief of the Yuehan Railway, Supervisor of Yuechuan Railway and Director of China Engineer Association.

Construction of the World's Highest Railway:

February 1912, After the Xinhai Revolution succeeded, the Revolutionary Leader, Dr Sun Yatsen, took post as the minister of railways. A Chinese proverb says: "If people want to be rich, they must first build roads." Sun planned to connect the entire nation with the help of railways. To be more ambitious, Sun wanted to improve the transportation and to boost development in the poorest region, Tibet (西藏). To do so, he had the vision to build a railway connecting Tibet to the heartland of China however the nation was under threat by western imperialism. Without any peaceful days the Tibet rail road project was to be delayed. In 1956, the Ministry of Railways officially

launched the primary planning of the project. During the summer of 1957, team of 13 people were dispatched to Tibet to start the survey. September 1958, construction of the railway from the capital of the Qinghai Province, Xining (西宁), to Golmud (格尔木), the 3rd largest city of the Qinghai Province (青海省), was secretly launched in Xining. The Guanjiao Tunnel also began construction, at the same time. However, the project was interrupted many times due to economic difficulties. It wasn't until 1974, when the construction of the Xining-Golmud section was resumed. At the same time, the scientific research, survey and design work of the Golmud-Lhasa Section was restarted. September 1979, the Xining-Golmud railway was finally completed and opened for civil use in 1984. Attempts to build a railway from Golmud connecting the the capital of Tibet, Lhasa (拉萨), were made but due to the limited technological and economic capabilities, the construction of the railway came to a halt. Due to the extremely harsh climate and geographic conditions, international experts stated the railway linking Tibet to the Chinese

World's 1st Commercial Maglev Train, the Shanghai Maglev Train

Heartland was impossible to build. The book, Travel around China, written by a modern railway travel expert stated: "It is impossible to build a railway to Lhasa across the Kunlun Mountain Range." Nevertheless, the Great Chinese Nation refused to give up. June 29, 2001, construction of the railway to Tibet officially started at Golmud. August 24th, 2005, railway tracks were laid at the railway's highest point, the Tanggula Pass, 5,072 meters above sea level. Under the harsh conditions, Chinese engineers are building the world's highest railway as 960 km of the rails are at 4000 meters above sea level and the highest point is at least 200 meters higher than the former

Video of China Developing Vactrain Technology

world’s highest railway, the Peruvian railway of the Andes. To complete such an arduous project, Chinese engineers had to build many of the world's greatest structure to complete the rail. They built the following:

1. The world's longest track on frozen earth, 550 kilometers long, longer than any of the plateau railways on earth.

2. The world’s highest railway station, the Tanggula Railway Station, located 5,068 meters above sea level, covering an area of 77,000 square meters.

3. The world’s highest railway tunnel, Fenghuoshan Tunnel was built on Fenghuo Mountain, 4,905 meters above sea level, which is the most elevated on frozen earth in the world. Its length is 1,338 meters.

4. The world's longest plateau tunnel on frozen earth, the Kunlun

Mountain Tunnel with a total length of 1,686 meters. It is built on an average altitude of 4,600 meters, with temperatures as low as -30 degrees Celsius where the oxegen content is only half of the air we breath at home.

5. The world's longest plateau railway bridge, the Qingshui River Bridge, has a total length of 11.7 kilometers, at an altitude of 4500 meters in the Hoh Xil unpopulated area.

6. The world’s fastest train on frozen earth, the maximum speed of the trains to Tibet is designed to reach 100 kilometers per hour on frozen earth areas, and 120 kilometers per hour on non-frozen earth.

Opening of the World's Highest Railway:

October 12, 2005, with around 100,000 engineers and construction workers were involved in the construction of the railway, where 10% of them were from local ethnic groups and with no workers died of altitude sickness during the construction, China has rewritten the world's history of railway construction by completing the rail road connecting Tibet to the Chinese heartland however track testing and signaling work were to be completed before opening to the public. July 1, 2006 , the railway was finally put into operation. The railway connected the third largest city of the Qinghai Province, Golmud, to the capital of Tibet, Lhasa, giving it the name, Qinghai–Tibet Railway

Opening of the World's Highest Railway

(青藏铁路). Crossing meadows, deserts, marshes, wetlands and ice cold snow cap mountains, the Golmud-Lhasa railway route is the world's largest plateau railway, with a length of 1142 km. Its trains are also the world's fastest trains that travel on a plateau frozen earth railway. Three train routes ran with daily trains running from Beijing to Lhasa and on alternate days between Chengdu-Lhasa and Chongqing-Lhasa, and between Xining-Lhasa and Lanzhou-Lhasa. Before this railway was built, most people go in and out of Tibet by journeying very inconvenient and dangerous roads which takes as long as several days. Although they air travel is an alternative, the one-way air ticket was very expensive, costing over 1,500 RMB. With this great

Changsha Maglev, China's 2nd Maglev and 1st Maglev to Use Chinese Technology

Song Lyrics, Heavenly Road

railway everyone can travel to Tibet both safely and conveniently with a more affordable price. The railway would also help further boost economic development and communication with the outside world for Tibet. To have a railway in Tibet would definitely benefit its local development in many aspects. October 1, 2006, two more trains, from Shanghai and Guangzhou, were officially set for operation on alternate days. July 2010 , the Shanghai–Lhasa service became daily, and a daily service between Xining and Lhasa was added. September 26th 2010, the construction of Lhasa-Shigatse Railway, the first extension line of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway with altitudes ranging from 3,600 to 4,000 meters the was started. It was finally opened to passengers on August 15, 2014. The number of passengers taking the train has increased from 6.4 million in 2006, to 10 million in 2011 and 10.76 million in 2012. October 31, 2014, the Lhasa to Nyingchi railway was approved. The length of the first section of the railway from Lhasa to Bayi is 434 km and 32 km will be electrified from Lhasa to Xierong. The railway is expected to open in 7 years. Because the railway takes the passengers to the world's highest plateau, it was also known as the Heavenly Road (天路). A song of the same name was specially written for this railway.

Song Lyrics, Heavenly Road:

At dawn, I stand on the green pasture (清晨我站在青青的牧场)

Seeing a condor bathed into the glowing morning night (看到神鹰披着那霞光)
Like a lucky cloud, soaring through the sky (像一片祥云飞过蓝天)

Bringing good fortunes to the families of Tibet (为藏家儿女带来吉祥)

At dusk, standing on the hill tops (黄昏我站在高高的山冈)

Longing for the railway to reach my hometown (看那铁路修到我家乡)

A gigantic dragon winding though mountains and over the peaks (一条条巨龙翻山越岭)

Bringing prosperity to the icy plateau (为雪域高原送来安康)

This is the Mysterious Heavenly Road (那是一条神奇的天路哎…)

Bringing the warmth of humanity to the Chinese borderland (把人间的温暖送到边疆)

From this time onwards, no longer are mountains too high to climb, no longer are roads too long to walk (从此山不再高路不再漫长)

Sons and daughters of all ethnicity shall gather as one (各族儿女欢聚一堂)

At dusk, standing on the hill tops (黄昏我站在高高的山冈)

Longing for the railway to reach my hometown (看那铁路修到我家乡)

A gigantic dragon winding though mountains and over the peaks (一条条巨龙翻山越岭)

Bringing prosperity to the icy plateau (为雪域高原送来安康)

This is the Mysterious Heavenly Road(那是一条神奇的天路哎…)
Transporting us to the earthly paradise (带我们走进人间天堂)
Tibet's barley wine and butter tea will taste evermore sweet (青稞酒酥油茶会更加香甜)

Songs of joy spreading throughout the land (幸福的歌声传遍四方)

Song Writer: Han Hong (韩红)

Maglev Trains in China:

December 31, 2000, the world's 1st crewed high-temperature superconducting maglev, invented by Applied Superconductivity Laboratory of the Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, was tested successfully. Based on the principle that high-temperature superconductors suspends stably above or below a permanent magnet, the train successfully carried over 24 500 passengers, weighing over 530 kg, with a traveling length of 400 km, with a levitation gap over 20 mm. The system used low cost liquid nitrogen to cool the superconductors.

March 1, 2001, China began construction of the world's 1st commercialized maglev train line. Because the train line was constructed in Shanghai, it was named the Shanghai Maglev Train (上海磁浮示范运营线). The line runs from Pudong International Airport of Shanghai to Longyang Road. With a record speed of 501 km/h, this maglev train is the world's fastest train, The train would allow passengers to arrive to the New International Exhibition Center and Century Park, located at the Longyang Station, or the International Airport, Lingkong Agriculture Garden and Les Charmes Outlet Boutiques, located at the Pudong International Airport Station, at a time as short

Maglev Trains in China

High Speed Railway, the Technology which China is Leading

as 8 minutes. January 1, 2004, the train's public commercial service commenced. Apart from speed, the maglev train consists of the following advantages:

1. Environmentally friendly: No waste gas produced.

2. Low energy: The energy consumption is only half that of buses and a quarter that of airplanes.

3. Less noise produced: Because the trains don't touch the railway line, their sound is much quieter compared to other trains.

4. Runs smoothly: Due to the magnetic levitation technology, no wheels are on the railway line. Therefore, the maglev trains run more smoother and quieter than any trains with wheels.

August 2, 2010, The National Power Traction Laboratory of Southwest Jiaotong University began to develop a vactrain, a maglev train that runs through in an airless tunnel, allowing it to run at speeds from 600 to

1,000km/h. A researcher at the National Power Traction Laboratory, Zhang Yaoping said: "The new technology can be put into operation in 10 years. In high speed evacuated tube transportation, the absence of air friction allows trains to run at extremely high speeds. The train carriages will be pressurized so passengers will not feel dizzy. While the traditional railroad costs 150 million yuan/km to build, the vactrain will be less expensive because it has smaller tunnel section. But ticket prices for the vactrain will be more expensive than that of the high-speed trains, though they will become cheaper as technology improves." China, Switzerland and the U.S. are the only three countries developing vactrain technology.

May 2014, the Chinese Nation constructs its second maglev line, in the Hunan Province. The line stretches from the Changsha Huanghua International Airport (长沙黄花国际机场) to the high-speed railway station, Changsha South Railway Station (长沙南站). Construction was completed on December 2015. Although it wasn't the first maglev line in China, it is the nation's first domestically built maglev line that uses indigenous technology. Travelling at a distance of 18.55 km, the train journey lasts 19.5 minutes.

May 12, 2014, Applied Superconductivity Laboratory of Southwest Jiaotong University whom invented the crewed high-temperature superconducting maglev, developed a new concept called Super Maglev where Maglev technology could potentially be three times faster than an airplane. With the Shanghai Maglev Train as the world's fastest train, Super Maglev would break that record easily. Chinese researchers have successfully tested the concept by encapsulating a train in a vacuum tube, also called the megathermal superconducting maglev loop, thus breaking the speed limitations imposed by air resistance on regular Maglev trains. If a maglev train

is encapsulated in a vacuum tube, it will go at a super speed of 3000 km/h. Dr. Deng Zigang, who has been developing the technology for many years, said: "If the speed exceeds 400km per hour, more than 83% of the traction energy is wastefully dissipated in air resistance. But with a vacuum tube design, that speed could be surpassed in the future." The research doesn’t just limit to land-based transportation only, with hopes that similar vacuum tube technology would be used to launch space vehicles, or enable super-high speeds for military weapons.

The Train that Never Stops:

April 18, 2007, Chinese engineer, Chen Jiajun developed a whole new concept in the railway industry, the train that never stops (不停站可上下乘客的火车). The idea to allow passengers to get onto the train and reach their destination without stopping the train. By doing so passengers would reach their destinations much faster e.g. A train

Map of the China's High Speed Rail Network by 2020, it is Already Currently the World's Longest

The Train that Never Stops

journey between Beijing and Guangzhou has approximately 30 stops. If each stop takes approximately five minutes to drop off and pick up passengers. It would mean a never stopping train would allow passengers to save 2 hours and 30 minutes to complete the journey. Without having to stop and start each time, the never stopping train would also save energy and fuel. The system works with passengers entering a pod, located on an elevated platform, where they will be waiting for the train. As the train passes by, without stopping, the pod would be locked automatically onto the train roof. As the pod rides with the train, the passengers would descend

Video of the Never Stopping Train Concept, Developed by the Chinese

themselves into the train. When the train nears the destination, the passenger would enter the pod. Once the destination draws closer, the pod would detach itself from the non stopping train which collects the next pod in the same station as it leaves. The detached pod would then slow to a stop, allowing passengers to leave.

High Speed Railway:

As China's leaders well know, despite rapid construction during the past decades and especially the past five years, the current rail system was inadequate to meet the requirements for developing an economy of 1.3 billion people. Per capita, China has only 6 cm of rail per person. At the same time, China's leaders are breaking away from the disastrous "globalization order," by recognizing that a nationally directed rail network is the only transport system which

High Speed Railway

could possibly function in the nation for air and auto transport are far too inefficient, too costly, and far less safe. January 7, 2010, China responded to the world economic crisis by building the most extensive high-speed national rail system in the world. Railway Minister, Liu Zhijun, announced in his annual report to the national rail conference that an immediate plan was made to increase the overall passenger and freight rail network from 86,000 km to 110,000 km by 2012. China's high speed railway project would make the high-speed lines the core of a fully integrated rail system, would transform its enormous economy, and contribute to making China the

leader in bringing the world out of the current disaster. China is finally building the integrated, strategically planned, national network, proposed by its first great republican leader, Dr Sun Yat-Sen, a century ago. Chinese leaders have foreseen that this transport system will contribute to the economic expansion of other nations, especially to Russia, the US and India. By the end of 2014, China has already built more than 11,000km of high speed railway, making the nations high speed rail network as the world's longest.

Febuary 15, 2015, China is developing wireless energy transmission technology to power its high speed trains. If successful, it would mean that China invented the world first wireless energy transmission technology that powers high speed trains. At least two proposals for the construction of the 1st ever rail line with a wireless power supply are under review by the central government after scientists finalized them, according to researchers on the projects. Overhead power lines that serve the trains

Beijing Metro, the World's Busiest Metro

require frequent maintenance due to bad weather, rapid wear and tear. Trains themselves also require maintenance, and the expensive pantographs, apparatuses mounted on carriage roofs that collect power through contact with the overhead transmission wires, must be replaced every few months. All of this adds significantly to operating costs, according to Chinese rail authorities. A team led by Professor Sun Yue, Director of the Power Electronic and Control Engineering Institute of the Chongqing University, recently proposed a 10MW wireless power system to the Ministry of Science and Technology to reduce the trains' operating costs and improve on-time

Shanghai Metro, the World's Longest Metro

performance. Sun said his system could beam more than 9.7 MW, to a train using resonant magnetic induction, enough to easily propel a fully loaded subway train or a high speed train running at 350 km/h or more. Sun said: "The solutions cannot be bought overseas so we must work hard to come up with our own technology." Sun's design calls for the energy sending device to be placed on the railway track and the receiving coil in the train's undercarriage. The system would require little maintenance and could function properly in almost any weather, including floods. "The ministry was reviewing the proposal and, if accepted, a large national research project for wireless-power, high-speed rail and subways would be launched next year." Sun said. Sun's team was racing to solve some critical issues, such as reducing present energy loss in the system of about 25 per cent, and eliminating harmful radiation to passengers and people living near the line. Upgrading an existing rail line with wireless technology costs tens of millions of yuan. Sun's team is seeking for other practical applications for its technology. Last year they helped a Chinese home appliances company

develop the world's first cordless kitchen blender and cooker. The government's interest in wireless power for high-speed trains has attracted many other researchers. A team led by Professor Yang Qingxin at Tianjin Polytechnic University has proposed a different design that involves beaming coils installed in overhead power lines with receiving antennas mounted on the roofs of trains. Zhang Xin, a researcher involved in Yang's project, said their proposal would be cheaper than Sun's undercarriage design as it required no retrofitting of rails. But Zhang admitted their laboratory prototype was not nearly powerful enough to drive a high-speed train. "We've

achieved power output in the range 300kW to 500kW so far," he said. "We still need to solve many technical issues before testing it on a real line." The Tianjin Polytechnic proposal was selected as one of the top 10 promising technologies to change people's lives in future by the China Association for Science and Technology, and was exhibited at the China Science and Technology Museum this month. Yu Xinjie , an electrical engineering professor at Tsinghua University, said it was essential that the government funded and supported such research, which had the potential to launch a new industrial revolution.

To complete the planned 16,000 km high-speed system, China is leaping over decades of technological development. Future development will require even more advanced technologies such as

Video of the Yiwu-Madrid Railway Line

magnetic-levitation systems, to meet world economic needs. April 27, 2016, China high speed railway network length reached stunning 19,000 km, longer than all of world's high-speed lines put together. The railway length will grow up to 120,000km by 2020. China's great rail project will transform society as well as the economy, raising living standards across the nation, which would narrow the income gap dividing the rural vast majority of the population, from the much better-off urban population. Increased rail transport will create a new level of national integration. China's high-speed passenger transport network will connect all provincial capitals and large cities.

The concept is to build an 8 hour transport circle to bring every important city in China within eight hours of traveling time to Beijing, or, where distances are still too great, another big city. This high-speed network will eventually be within accessible distance to 90% of the population. Two trillion RMB has been allocated for already approved projects for the next decade. In the coming three years, 3.5 billion RMB of the stimulus, will be spent for rail investment, the China High-Speed Railway summit announced. The Chinese government has already launched a global sales campaign to export the technology and rolling stock to other countries.

World's Largest Underground System:

After rolling out almost 50,000 miles of expressways and 6,000 miles of high-speed rail lines, the Great Chinese Nation has turned its attention underground with the most extensive metro project the world has ever

Map of the Yiwu-Madrid Railway Line

World's Largest Underground System

seen. November 3, 2011, the Great Chinese Nation will invest over 1 trillion yuan on building underground networks in 28 cities. During this decade, China will build the 250 circle lines. Twelve Chinese cities already have metro systems up and running with Shanghai having a bigger network than the London's metro in just 15 years. Creating metro systems has become an important badge of progress even for smaller cities, such as Taiyuan, Urumqi and Shijiazhuang. Other smaller cities, such as Dali, Haikou, Zhuzhou and Luoyang, are in the process of submitting their own metro plans for approval, as China’s traffic problems would be a major issue in the years ahead.

Video of the World's 1st Hydrogen Powered Tram

Tongji University Professor, Xie Weida said: “Even the smaller cities are choked up with traffic. Urban rail is a good way to solve that. I am sure the local governments are not building subways just to improve their image (as what western imperialists believe), but also out of practical concerns. Our original plans never foresaw how many cars there would be on the roads, and there are ever increasing number of people moving to cities.”

The World's Longest Railway:

September 2013, at the Nazabayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan, Chinese President, Xi Jinping delivered a historic speech. He opened his remarks with the reference to a famous ancient trade route: "Shanxi (山西), my home province, is the starting point of the silk

World's Longest Railway

road. As I stand here to reflect history, I can almost hear the camel bells echoing among the mountains and see the wisps of smoke rising from the desert. Giving me the feeling of my warm loving home." Although the silk road maybe a thing of the past, it just maybe a road to the future. For the first time in history, the President proposed to revived the silk road, in an initiative he called 'The Silk Road Economic Belt'. He said: "To forge closer economic ties, deepen cooperation and expand development in the Eurasia Region, we should seize the initiative and together we shall build an economical belt along the Silk Road. This great undertaking will benefit the people in

This Cute Panda is the World's 1st New Energy Suspension Railway

World’s 1st Hydrogen Powered Tram

all countries along the route." This proposed was to establish a modern equivalent, creating a network of railways, roads, pipelines, and utility grids that would link China and Central Asia, West Asia, and South Asia. This initiative, One Belt and One Road, comprises more than just physical connections. It aims to create the world’s largest platform for economic cooperation, including policy coordination, trade and financing collaboration, and social and cultural cooperation. Through open discussion, One Road One Belt will benefit everyone.

November 18, 2014, as a result of One Road One Belt, the World's Longest Railway, the Yiwu-Madrid Railway Line, was completed, with its first cargo train taking off. The train departed from Eastern China, Yiwu, a major wholesale centre for small consumer goods.It made a 4 month journey passed through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, France, finally

reaching the Spanish Capital, Madrid where the arrival ceremony was held and the attendee, Governor of the Zhejiang Province (浙江省长), Li Qiang, announced: "The route was important to implement the strategy of developing the new silk road." The trip from China to Spain was approximately 16,000 miles, carrying 82 shipping containers of goods made in Zhejiang, returning to China with wine, olive oil and cured ham, on February 25, 2015.

World’s 1st Hydrogen Powered Tram:

As China's rapid modernization continues, the fight against pollution continues. March 23, 2015, a local scientist teamed invented the world’s 1st hydrogen fueled tram after 2 years of development. Manufactured by the Sifang Company, a subsidiary of the China South Rail Corporation, in conjunction with several research institutions around the nation, it gets enough power from one tank of hydrogen to travel 100 km with a speed of 70 km/h, transporting a minimum of 380 passengers at a time. The production line of the tram was set at the city of Qingdao. The tram's only emission is water for the temperature inside the fuel cell is controlled to stop any nitrogen oxides

Suspension Railway in China

from forming, doing absolutely no damage to the environment and maintaining practicality, taking only three minutes to refill. Due to the relatively quick routes taken by Chinese public transport users, drivers will only have to refuel a few times a day, at a cheap running cost. The tram is a testament to the Chinese government’s commitment to take to stop green house gas emissions. Now it's time for the rest of the world to follow suit purchase these friendly trams on their streets.

Suspension Railway in China:

October 11, 2016, China successfully built the nations first suspension railway, Sky Train. Built in the city of Chengdu, at the Sichuan Province, home of the pandas, the train was designed like a

World's 1st Smart Train

panda and is the world's 1st new-energy suspension railway, another of the outstanding Chinese inventions. Unlike traditional suspension railways, the new-energy suspension railway is powered by a lithium battery rather than the high-voltage electricity. "As the train runs on lithium batteries, it is more environmentally friendly than traditional energy sources." said the chief designer of the project, Zhai Wanming. "We use large volume lithium batteries as the source of our energy. This is revolutionary. The suspension monorails in Germany and Japan use traditional power supply modes." he added. The futuristic trains went into service on November 21. Hanging on a railway track of 1.4 km in length, the train could carry a total of 230 passengers, traveling at a speed of 60 km/h, a speed equivalent to subway trains. Zhongtang Sky Train Group, the inventor of Sky Train is a company based in Sichuan specializing in suspension railway technologies. It is one of the Sichuan government's key project. In an interview with Dragon TV, Chairman of Zhong Tang Sky Train Group, Tang Dong said: "The trains were operated during the day and recharged during the night." When fully charged, the Sky Train can run for four hours non-stop. Sky Train is set to be commercialized in China after it finishes 10,000 km of train operation.

World's 1st Smart Train:

Expected to in operation in 2018, a futuristic rail system featuring the world's 1st trackless trains and its world's 1st virtual railway was launched on October 23, 2017 in the city of Zhuzhou (株洲市) of the Hunan Province (湖南省). Running on the world's 1st virtual rails the train was billed as the world's 1st smart train. Traveling with a speed of the 70km/h, with 300 passengers, the vehicle runs itself through the city's bustling streets. This completely electric train can run automatically, without a driver. This rail system, also known as the Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit, ART for short, was developed by China's CRRC Corporation Limited, one of the world's largest train

manufacturers. The goal of the project was to create affordable mass transit for cities unable to build subways or tram tracks which also helps to speed up the public transportation. The 3.75 meters wide virtual railway are just dotted lines painted on the road. Chief Engineer of the Train, Feng Jianghua, said: "The virtual railway system is much cheaper to build compared to trams and subways. It costs 150 to 200 million yuan per kilometer for a tramway, but with the high-tech virtual line would reduce the cost to a range of 50 to 100 million yuan. Our train identifies the pavement and has various sensors to collect travel information."

Video of the World's 1st Smart Train

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