Jeme Tien Yow

Jeme Tien Yow (zh-cp|c=詹天佑|p=Zhān Tiānyòu; previously romanized as Jeme Tien Yow) (April 26,1861 – April 24,1919) was a distinguished Chinese railroad engineer. He was educated in the United States of America and was the Chief Engineer responsible for construction of the Imperial Peking-Kalgan Railway (Beijing to Zhangjiakou), the first railway constructed in China without foreign assistance.

Biography

Jeme was born in Nam-hoi prefecture (now Liwan District, Guangzhou) in Guangdong of China. In 1872, twelve-years-old Jeme was chosen by the Qing imperial officials to be sent to the United States for education. Together with thirty children of similar age, Jeme arrived in Connecticut. After studying at a primary school in New Haven, he then entered a secondary school there, and in 1878, Jeme was admitted to Yale University. Jeme's major was Civil Engineering, with an emphasis in railroad construction. Jeme received his bachelor's degree in 1881, and he was considered lucky because only a few months after his graduation, the Qing government decided to recall all students studying in the United States. Among those who were sent abroad, only Jeme and another student were able to obtain their college degrees.

Life was not good for the students recalled to China. The Qing government officials found behaviors of the foreign educated students unorthodox, they also had no plan to put their acquired knowledge to good use. Most of the recalled students, including Jeme, were simply sent to the newly formed Imperial Navy to be re-trained as seamen. Jeme was sent to Fuchow in Fujian Province. A few years later, in 1884, the Imperial Navy in Fuchow was destroyed during the brief war with France. Jeme survived the war, and in 1888, he finally found his way to become a railroad engineer. Viceroy Li Hongzhang in Peking was constructing a railroad that would link Tientsin to the coal mines in Tangshan. A British engineer Claude W. Kinder was hired as the chief engineer of the railroad. Through connections with his old schoolmates working in Peking, Jeme joined Kinder as an intern engineer. Jeme was soon promoted to full engineer, and later district engineer. The railway that Jeme worked on was later extended to become the Peking Mukden Line. Jeme spent 12 years on various sections of this line before his next major assignment.

In 1902, Yuan Shikai decided to build a special line for Empress Dowager Cixi to visit the Royal ancestors' tomb. Kinder was the original candidate for the chief engineer position, however the French were unhappy that a British was assigned to the position. Eventually, Jeme got the assignment as the chief engineer of the 37km stub line. Jeme managed to construct the railroad within budget and a very tight schedule. The Empress was pleased and permission was given to construct more railroad in China.

In 1905, the Imperial Qing government decided to build a railroad that would link the capital of Peking to the important trade city of Kalgan to the north. This railway would be of strategic importance to the Imperial government. A decision was therefore made that the railway would be built without foreign assistance. Capital would come from the government, and no foreign engineers were to be hired. Jeme was once again appointed as Chief Engineer of the railway. At the beginning, some people were skeptical that the Qing government would be able to construct the railroad in the rugged mountains North of Peking all by itself. But Jeme showed he was an able engineer and completed the work two years ahead of schedule and under budget. He designed a zig zag upwards railway by switching back the line near the Qinglongqiao railway station to overcome the steep gradient. When excavating the Badaling railway tunnel, he employed the vertical shaft construction method to accelerate the construction. He was also said to be an advisor of the construction of the Kowloon-Canton Railway, for the Lo Wu Bridge built in 1906.

Jeme was also responsible for setting many railroad standards that are still in force in China today. The adoption of standard gauge and Janney couplers in all railroads within China were both proposed by Jeme. He was also the founding member of the China Institute of Engineers. Jeme was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by the University of Hong Kong in 1916. For his contributions to railroad engineering in China, Jeme was often called the Father of China's Railroad. Jeme died in Hankou in 1919 at the age of 58. He was buried at the Qinglongqiao railway station, where the Peking-Kalgan (Beijing-Zhangjiakou) railway crossed the Great Wall and the rugged mountains north of Beijing. A museum was also established nearby to commemorate the works of Jeme Tien Yow.