An 89-year-old man
Thousands of miles from Macau to Beijing
Donated his family tree, which has been treasured for many years
Who is this old man?
Why donate a family tree?
What is the origin of his family tree and the railway?
A video takes you to the point
On April 26, on the occasion of the 161st anniversary of the birth of Mr. Zhan Tianyou, the "Father of China's Railways", Mr. Zhan Tongbao, the grandson of Mr. Zhan Tianyou, donated the handwritten family tree of his grandfather to the Zhan Tianyou Science and Technology Development Foundation. The donation ceremony was held at the Zhan Tianyou Memorial Hall of the China Railway Museum.
Mr. Zhan Tianyou is a famous patriotic engineer in the mainland and is known as the "father of China's railways". In 1905, under his presidency, Chinese designed and built the first trunk railway, the Beijing-Zhang Railway, which broke the assertion that "Chinese cannot build a railway by itself" and greatly uplifted the national spirit.
Family trees, also known as genealogies and genealogies, record the lineage reproduction and important deeds of a family in the form of a table genealogy, which is a precious humanistic material. The ancients had a tradition of hand-copying family trees, encouraging and spurring themselves with family rules, family disciplines, and the deeds of their ancestors.
Zhan Tianyou's ancestral home was Wuyuan County, Huizhou (present-day Wuyuan County, Shangrao City, Jiangxi), and when he carefully read the "Wuyuan County Chronicle" against the old family tree, he found that six of wuyuan's direct ancestors were of high moral character, so he compiled the relevant contents of the "Character History" of the zhi into his own compilation of the "Genealogy of the Zhan Clan of Huiwu Luyuan".
Zhan Tianyou copied the ancestors' loyalty to the country, love for the people, pioneering and pioneering, and helpful character on the family tree, which was more deeply imprinted in his mind.
"Let each learn what he has learned, and let the country be rich and strong, free from external insults, and be able to stand on its own on the earth." This is the highest ideal and lifelong goal of Mr. Zhan Tianyou, and it has also become the family training he left to the descendants of the Zhan family.
This hand-copied family tree also records in detail Mr. Zhan Tianyou's study and work experience, becoming a model for inspiring Zhan's descendants. The family tree has been preserved by Zhan Tianyou's eldest son, Zhan Wenjue, who handed it over to Zhan Tongbao for treasure before his death.
The 89-year-old Mr. Zhan Tongbao came to Beijing thousands of miles away to donate this 138-year-old family tree, hoping that more people would inherit Zhan Tianyou's patriotic, innovative, self-reliant and hard-working spirit. This is also the second time he has donated cultural relics. On December 8, 1986, Mr. Zhan Tongbao donated the cultural relics donated to the zhan tianyou memorial hall preparatory office, which was awarded the Yale University gold medal by Zhan Tianyou and has been rated as a national first-class cultural relic.
This family tree is a first-hand source for studying Zhan Tianyou's life performance and family origins, and has important cultural relics and historical value. After consultation between the Zhan Tianyou Science and Technology Development Foundation and the China Railway Museum, it was decided to place this precious cultural relic in the best airtight cabinet in the Zhan Tianyou Memorial Hall for protection.
Contributed by: Beijing Reporter Station of People's Railway Newspaper Co., Ltd. (Financial Media Center of Beijing Bureau Group Corporation)
Text/Video: Li Rong, Chai Na, Sun Lijun
Editor: Xie Qi