Chapter 33 Chapter 10 Early Chinese Railways

Do you know which railway is the first railway in our country?What year was it built?In this regard, people have had three different opinions. The first opinion is that a 500-meter-long model railway with small steam locomotives laid by the British businessman Durand outside Xuanwumen in Beijing in 1865 was the first railway in my country.The basis is that although this railway is advertised, it is paved with small rails, "long as long as possible", and uses a steam locomotive, "driving on it with a small car, as fast as flying".This already has the main characteristics of the railway, so it is appropriate to regard it as the first railway in our country.

The second opinion is that, in 1876, the railway for the public transportation of passengers and goods built by the British Jardine Matheson between Wusong and Shanghai without authorization was the first railway in my country. In 1866, in order to expand their aggression against our country, the British colonialists did not hesitate to resort to deceitful methods, asking for the construction of a railway on the pretext that the river between Wusong and Shanghai was not easy to dredge, so that the goods transported to Wusong by sea could be transported to Shanghai by railway.This request has not yet been approved by the Qing government.The British invaders were not reconciled. In 1875, they smuggled railway equipment from the United Kingdom to Shanghai through the British Jardine Matheson Co., and built tracks and roads without authorization. On December 1, 1876, the entire line from Shanghai to Wusong was completed and opened to traffic.The aggressive acts of British imperialism aroused strong resistance, and the people along the road launched a spontaneous mass struggle against foreign aggression during the road construction period. In September 1877, the Qing government redeemed the railway with a lot of money, but instead of using it, it demolished the railway line about 15 kilometers long.

The third opinion is that the Tangshan-Xugezhuang Railway, which was funded by the Kaiping Mining Bureau organized by the Westernization Group of the Qing government and opened to traffic on November 8, 1881, was the first railway in my country.The Tangxu Railway is about 10 kilometers long.Because the ignorant Qing government was afraid that the locomotive, a huge locomotive, would shake the Qing imperial tomb, so it was only allowed to use mules and horses to pull vehicles.It was only later that due to the low efficiency of coal transportation, a steam locomotive called "Dragon" was used in 1882 after round-trip dredging.

Which of these three opinions is correct?We believe that from the perspective of the essential characteristics of railway transportation, there is no doubt that the first railway in my country should be the Songhu Railway built in 1876. First of all, the first railway in my country referred to here is in the sense that it can transport passengers and goods.Although the advertising railway appeared earlier, it was only a model for people to watch.For example, as far back as 1804, Trevixik of Britain made a steam locomotive with a speed of eight kilometers per hour, and tested it on the railroad track of South Wales. In 1814, Stephenson also built a steam locomotive with better efficiency, and tried to transport coal in the coal mine.But people still regard the Stockton-Darlington Railway, which was first opened for transportation business in 1825, as the world's first railway, and this is the reason.

Secondly, the first railway in my country referred to here refers to the earliest appearance of this new means of transportation in my country, and it does not limit who invested or who built it.As you all know, Britain built the first railway in its colony of India in 1853. We will never say that India only had its first railway after its independence in 1950. As for the issue of the demolition of the Songhu Railway, it also needs to be analyzed.After a period of operation, the Songhu Railway was indeed redeemed and demolished by the Qing government.However, the completion of the Songhu Railway in 1876 is an objective fact of history.As an advanced production tool, the railway has begun to show great power in China.Because of this, only four years later, the construction of the Tangxu Railway began.It is too far-fetched to require that the physical object be preserved to be considered the first railway.May I ask what other rails, spikes, fishplates, etc. are relics from 1881 on the Tangxu section of the Beijing-Shenyang Railway today?

Finally, the first railway in my country referred to here does not only refer to the standard gauge.The Songhu Railway was not built with a standard gauge.It is a narrow gauge railway with a gauge of 0.762 meters.However, we know that there are currently more than 30 different gauges in the world.For example, in the former Soviet Union, its gauge is mostly 1.524 meters; while in India, its gauge is 1.676 meters, 1.435 meters, 1 meter, 0.762 meters, 0.610 meters and so on.We will never draw conclusions from this: the railways of the former Soviet Union and India are all informal railways.The point of view that only recognizes the standard gauge, or only regards the railway with the standard gauge as the official railway, is untenable.

Therefore, the correct conclusion is: the Songhu Railway built by the British in 1876 is the first railway in my country.So, which one was the first railway built by us Chinese ourselves?We believe that it should be the "Tangshan-Xugezhuang" railway funded by the Kaiping Mining Bureau on November 8, 1881. As early as the early 1870s, there was a heated debate on whether the diehards and the Westernization Party within the Qing government wanted to build railways.With the gaining power of the Westernization Movement, the Qing government went from refusing and "preparing" the railway to "resolutely launching" it in the 1980s. In 1877, the Qing government approved the construction of the Taiwan Railway for the first time, but when it really started, it had to be suspended due to financial difficulties.By 1879, the Kaiping Mining Bureau requested to build a railway from Tangshan to Beitang, but it was still not approved.Later, he re-applied to build only a 10-kilometer light railway from Tangshan to Xugezhuang, and was reluctantly approved.The railway started construction in early 1881, and the opening ceremony was held on November 8 of the same year.At that time, the "Dragon" locomotive manufactured by the workers of the Xugezhuang garage was going to be used. This was the first locomotive made by the Chinese.However, the royal family of the Qing Dynasty forbade the use of steam locomotives on the grounds that "the driving would shake the mausoleum and the black smoke would damage the crops". They were only allowed to use mules and horses to pull the vehicles, which was called "horse carriage railway".It was not until 1882 that the "Dragon" locomotive was used for traction.Although the Tangxu Railway is a small section, it is a key line in the main artery. It is the first railway run by the Chinese themselves, and it is also the great beginning of my country's railway construction.