The longest meter-gauge railway in China is also the first railway in Southwest China. The construction process was too difficult. Who built it?

The Yunnan-Vietnam Railway is the first railway in southwest China and the longest existing meter-gauge railway in China (the rail spacing is one meter). It is also known as "the little train in Yunnan, the one in the clouds" railway".

The Yunnan-Vietnam Railway has a total length of 895 kilometers. The Yunnan-Vietnam Railway has been circling the winding mountains for hundreds of years. Its textbook-like design of the herringbone bridge makes the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway the third largest project in the world, comparable to the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal.

The role of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway

In China, the train is definitely the most important means of transportation for travel. It takes us through thousands of mountains, shoals and streams, from cities to Villages, from lively to lonely, we are always on the road.

However, the role of trains is not only to take us traveling, but also to transport goods.

Due to the large scale, long distance and low cost of railway transportation, it is most suitable for carrying large quantities of goods over long distances and is less affected by climate and natural conditions. It has an important position in the field of transportation and is playing an increasingly important role. role.

On April 1, 1910, the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway was officially opened to traffic. In the decades after the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway was successfully built and opened to traffic, foreign colonists plundered at least 230,000 tons of food on the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway. metal tin.

During the Anti-Japanese War, the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway was a powerful trunk line in the material transportation channel. When the southeastern coastal ports were occupied by the Japanese army, the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway changed the rule of not running at night, and added trains day and night to rush for supplies, becoming the channel through which my country obtains the largest volume of international aid transportation.

Even when attacked by Japanese bombers, the freight volume was three times that of normal traffic, which played an important role in preventing the Japanese invaders from cutting off all international aid channels to China.

During the founding of New China, ownership of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway returned to the government.

With the development of society, the current Yunnan-Vietnam Railway no longer needs to bear heavy freight tasks. It is more of a sightseeing train and has become a disseminator of culture and history, and has become an important tool for strengthening the economy of the areas along the line. , an important factor in cultural exchanges.

When you get on the train, you can see the magnificent and unique karst landforms, and the gurgling creeks and springs slowly merge into the Nanxi River.

Where there are huge rocks in the river, there are often rapid currents. Dense bushes surround the sparse huts, and the wonderful environment makes people feel as if they are in a paradise, like a fairyland, which makes people linger.

There are also charming little French train stations along the line, and the small town Mengzi, which the railway passes through - this city once accommodated thousands of Europeans in that era.

The most famous one is the Bisezhai French-style railway station, which has a luggage room, driving room, ticket room, waiting room, etc. All these have been protected and developed into tasteful tourism projects.

Building Railways with Blood and Sweat

Since France successfully invaded Vietnam in 1883, because it coveted the rich mining resources in southwest my country, France stepped in step by step to achieve the purpose of occupying southwest my country. Forced, began to use all its strength to deal with China.

In 1885, the Battle of Zhennanguan was a great victory. However, due to the corruption of the Qing government and its cowardice, it took the initiative to seek peace with France and signed the "Vietnam Treaty between China and France" with France.

In this way, France obtained the power to build railways in Vietnam and southwest China. Plans began to build a railway from Yunnan to Vietnam, increase metal transportation, and plunder the mineral resources in Yunnan.

In 1903, in order to build railways, France recruited a large number of laborers in Yunnan, China. These laborers were basically farmers. They worked hard for 8 hours a day and could only get 80 copper plates in compensation. These rewards were In the most remote areas of France, workers receive one-sixth of the minimum wage.

Chinese officials requested the construction of simple resting places for the workers, but the French side believed that shacks were enough for the workers and refused to build simple accommodations.

Not only were the workers building the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway not guaranteed minimum living standards, they were also treated roughly and their wages were exploited. During the seven years of building the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, the French colonists brutally enslaved, oppressed, and exploited the Chinese road construction workers.

During the construction process of the Yunnan section of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, the total number of people involved in the construction of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway was probably more than 300,000, and the total number of deaths was at least estimated to be about 70,000, so everyone on the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway Every nail has Chinese sweat, and every sleeper has Chinese bones buried under it.

According to literature records at that time, the temperature in summer was high, mosquito bites were frequent, and malaria was rampant. The French colonists were afraid of infection and set fire to the work sheds, regardless of life and death inside. When they saw someone suffering from malaria on the roadside, The depressed worker kicked down the deep stream.

On these more than 400 kilometers of railway lines, the feats accomplished by hundreds of thousands of unknown people under very difficult conditions are incredible. Millions of tons of rocks were excavated, and tens of thousands of Hundreds of thousands of railroad tracks and railroad ties were transported by horses and mules and laid by Chinese laborers.

Even women were mobilized to bake clay bricks for massive reinforcement walls. The Yunnan-Vietnam Railway was born like the wildest fantasy of the 19th century.

The historical significance of building the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway

With the help of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, the French colonists invaded our country’s national resources. Countless metals of tin and copper were mined, but money came in. Someone else's pocket. Controlling transportation in Yunnan made the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway the exclusive tool for colonists to transport metal.

The tool used by the French colonists to plunder the Chinese people was the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway built with the blood and sweat of the Chinese people. It is a historical witness of the French colonists' aggression and oppression.

At that time, the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway was a leech attached to the Yunnan people, sucking the blood of the Yunnan people.

The 465 kilometers of Yunnan-Vietnam Railway track in China carries a heavy history. History will never forget those railways stretching into the distance and the bones buried under the railway tracks, telling their stories in the silent years. Bitter, they will always record the ups and downs of the year, the rise and fall of the past hundred years.

A railway, stretching for hundreds of years, will always show people the rise and fall of the railway. The two railway tracks connect two eras and bear witness to the centuries-old story that happened on the railway line.

In the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, a section of track has a story, and a station is a monument.

On this endless railway line, China’s century-old history is engraved, and the blood and tears of the people along the railway line are also recorded.

After a hundred years, the mission of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway is far from over. We will always remember this railway that records suffering, struggle, unyielding, and glory because this road unites tens of thousands of compatriots. The hard work and sweat, but also because history will always remember it.