As the last feudal dynasty in the history of China, the Qing Dynasty has been influenced by modern western countries. The book Modern History of China records that in the late Qing Dynasty, China's land was invaded by a large number of western powers, and many countries took advantage of the fire to plunder many cultural treasures of our country. The book Knowledge of Literature and History even points out: "During the five years from 1896 to 1900, China was in a crisis of being carved up." However, the arrival of western countries has also brought many advanced ideas and technologies to China, especially in industry. They sent many finished products of the industrial revolution to China, making China aware of its backwardness and determined to develop its own industry.

As we all know, many convenient and advanced devices were invented in the western world after World War II. These advanced technologies greatly increased their confidence and began to hope to expand their sphere of influence to all countries in the world. So many countries began to build ships and sail to Asia and America, and used their inventions to occupy these real lands and resources. As the leader of Asia, China is naturally a big cake for them. However, the corruption of the Qing government and the long-term closed-door policy also made China's scientific and technological development very backward. The so-called great power in the East is nothing but happy ever after. After China was forced to open to the outside world, people all over the country started a series of resistance and reform actions to resist the invasion of western powers.

Many of them are aware of the importance of industry in national development. In order to save the crumbling country, they modestly studied the civilization and technology of the western world and established many industrial systems in combination with their own actual conditions. Hanyang Iron Works, known as "Huaxia Steel Source", is the product of this stage. Today, Hanyang Iron Works has long been submerged in the long river of history, but its products still exist in China. The only Qing rail still in use in China has not rusted so far. Expert: Every rail is priceless. Let's take a look at the story behind this railroad track!

In the 16th year of Guangxu (AD 1890), Zhang Zhidong, Governor of Huguang, established Hanyang Iron Works in Wuhan, Hubei. At that time, he firmly believed that China was inferior to western powers only in firearms. Therefore, he is convinced of the idea of saving the country by industry. Hanyang Iron Works is the earliest government-run steel works in China's modern history, and its appearance has indeed played a certain role in resisting the invasion of western powers. China's iron and steel technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, and the level of modern industry has also been greatly improved, which has greatly promoted the development process of modern industry in China. However, the Qing government did not pay enough attention to this vital new cause. At first, the Qing government was only willing to allocate 2.46 million yuan to Hanyang Iron Works as the founding fund.

Under the pressure of completely insufficient start-up funds, Zhang Zhidong remained firm. He refused to lower the standards for building steel mills and kept negotiating with the Qing government. In the end, with Zhang Zhidong's insistence, Hanyang Iron Works was successfully completed in the 18th year of Guangxu, that is, AD 1892, with a total cost of more than five million taels of silver, which was twice the original appropriation of the Qing government.

Hanyang Iron Works is highly anticipated by a group of officials headed by Zhang Zhidong. Hanyang Iron Works, which has just been put into production, encountered a series of problems in its early days. Workers found that the ironmaking equipment they invested heavily in was not suitable for smelting ores with high phosphorus content, which made their production once in trouble. The government is angry that investing in such a huge steel plant can't smoothly smelt rails and other materials. Zhang Zhidong, who had no choice but to borrow money from Japan and Germany, temporarily turned around and re-purchased the required equipment. Fortunately, this time, Zhang Zhidong and Hanyang Iron Works did not live up to everyone's hopes. After purchasing new equipment, Hanyang Iron Works has gradually stepped into the right track, and the whole plant runs very smoothly, smelting a lot of steel for our country. Unfortunately, it was not long before the incompetent Qing government was defeated. Without government and financial support, Hanyang Iron Works suffered from war in the following decades and was finally occupied by the Japanese army.

A train drawn by a steam locomotive

However, in 20 12, a railway maintenance worker named Qu accidentally found some handwriting on a railway track while maintaining the freight railway line in Wanyuan City, Sichuan Province. After careful observation, he found that it read: "1902 made by Hanyang Iron Works". Subsequently, many people found the rails engraved with the words "COCKERLL- 1908- AT" and "KTPE-RSW 1909" on a bridge in Lueyang County, Shaanxi Province.

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Unexpectedly, the railway tracks 100 years ago are still being used normally by us! On October 20 18 1 month, Hanyang Iron Works was listed in the industrial heritage protection list of China, and a museum was established in Guishan, Hubei. Today, Wuhan Iron and Steel Group Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant is located in the original site of Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant, and still produces a large number of required steel products for the country with the "Hanyang spirit", playing an important role as always!

China in today's world has got rid of weakness and feudalism. Since the reform and opening up, China has been well aware of the importance of technology and equipment to a country, so it has vigorously developed industry and manufacturing, and used these technologies and technologies to benefit the broad masses of people. China is proving itself to the world with unprecedented speed and quality!