Park Railway in the Imperial Gardens of Beijing

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Park Railway in the Imperial Gardens of Beijing
Probable route of the park railway
Probable route of the park railway
Route of the Park Railway in the Imperial Gardens of Beijing
Plan of the Imperial Gardens
Route length: 4 km
Gauge : 600 mm ( narrow gauge )

The park railway in the Imperial Gardens of Beijing was built in 1888, four kilometers long narrow-gauge railway from the Old Summer Palace to the New Summer Palace in the Imperial Gardens ( Chinese  御 園  /  御 园 , Pinyin Yù Yuán , English Imperial Gardens ) eight kilometers northwest of the Forbidden City in Beijing .

history

On June 29, 1888, the Chinese newspaper Shih Pao ( 時報  /  时报 , Shíbào  - "literally the time") reported that on Wan Shan Shau ( 萬壽山  /  万寿山 , Wànshòu Shān , English Longevity Hill ) a three Chinese miles ( 1.75 km) long narrow-gauge railway should be relocated, as well as a several miles long connecting line to Hsu Hai Tien ( 后 海 , hòuhǎi , English Houhai Lake ). The tracks were scheduled to arrive in Beijing in July 1888, a year before the Decauville Railway at the Paris World's Fair was operated on the newly built Eiffel Tower .

On October 26, 1888, a newspaper article under the headline The Emperor's Toy Railway reported that the Toonan cargo ship had delivered the prefabricated parts for the park railway in Tianjin on October 20, 1888 . There, on November 21, 1886 , the French engineer Gaston Galy successfully demonstrated China's first Decauville railway on the temporarily relocated Tianjin – Jinnan line to political dignitaries . Similar demonstrations had already taken place in Hong Kong and Canton (1886) with the support of the England-based commercial agency Jardine / Matheson, with whom Decauville had signed an exclusive ten-year contract for the sale of the Decauville system in China in 1984 .

The French engineer Gaston Galy built the railway on Lake Shan Shau as part of the Mission de l'industrie française en China with rails supplied by Forges de Saint-Nazaire . According to other information, it was Decauville's flying track . The contract for this was probably given to a foreign company by Li Hongzhang , the viceroy of Zhili . According to unconfirmed information, it was seven Chinese miles (4 km) long.

The track had a value of 12,950 silver taels (72,520 francs ) and was sold at a price of 10,000 silver taels well below the market value.

Rail vehicles

The locomotive developed for agricultural use in the colonies came from the Paris company JF Cail & Cie ( en ) , the cars were provided by the Chantiers de la Buire company from Lyon . According to other sources, the rail vehicles came from Germany. Since the empress mother was concerned that the whistle of the steam locomotive could throw the Feng Shui of the Old Palace out of its geomantic equilibrium, eunuchs had to push the carts as a hand-operated train through the park.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Shi Pao. In: Chelestial Empire. Shanghai, June 29, 1886. Quoted by PA Crush on page 5.
  2. ↑ a b The Emperor's Toy Railway. In: Chelestial Empire. Shanghai, October 26, 1886. Quoted by PA Crush on page 5.
  3. ↑ a b c d The founding of French syndicates and the intensification of the inter-imperialist rivalry. In: D. Brötel: France in the Far East. 1996, p. 296.
  4. ^ A b Madeleine Yue Dong: Chapter 8: Defining Beiping - Urban Reconstruction and National Identity, 1928-1936 . In: Joseph W Esherick (Ed.): Remaking the Chinese City: Modernity and National Identity, 1900–1950 . University of Hawaii Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8248-2518-7 , p. 35.
  5. ↑ Brief report. In: Chelestial Empire. Shanghai, November 16, 1886. Quoted by PA Crush on page 5.
  6. ↑ The Role of Diplomacy in the Face of Syndicate Rivalry. Attempts to reorganize French industrial interests: from the 'Association Industrielle' to the 'Groupe Industriel'. In: D. Brötel: France in the Far East. 1996, p. 332 ff.
  7. ↑ YAN Chongnian: Beijing - The Treasures of the Ancient Capital. 1987.

Coordinates: 40 ° 0 ′ 2.2 ″  N , 116 ° 16 ′ 46.2 ″  E