In 2005, the Great Lailong Railway was completed and opened to traffic, and the road started from Dawa in the west, passing through Haihua, Shouguang, Hanting, Changyi, Pingdu, Laizhou, Zhaoyuan, and finally to Longkou, with a total length of 175 kilometers. In addition, the 123-kilometer-long Longkou Yan (Taiwan) Railway is also about to be completed. The connection between the Da Lai Long Railway and the Longyan Railway not only added an important traffic trunk line to the northern coast of Shandong, but also made the ill-fated "Yanwei Railway" from planning into reality. When it comes to the Yanwei Railway, it is natural to think of an unavoidable keyword and a key person who cannot be forgotten.
An unavoidable key word – Yanwei Road
The road from Yantai to Weixian (present-day Weifang), according to the "Historical Records", took shape in a section of Guanma Avenue in Shandong during Qin Shi Huang's eastern tour.
In 1861, Yantai officially opened its port, Britain, the United States, Japan, Germany and other countries have set up consulates in Yantai, foreigners flocked to Yantai, or business or mission. By 1921, there were 2,276 ships entering and leaving Yantai. Compared with the busyness of the sea, the land traffic is obviously obsolete, which restricts the development of the economy.
In fact, as early as 1869, the British businessman Fu Kaisen Company had listed the British Prime Minister and proposed to build a railway from Yantai to Weixian County, but the proposal was not followed. With the opening of the port of Qingdao, Yantai's status in Lu began to decline, especially after the opening of the Jiaoji Railway in 1904, Yantai's economy was hit hard. Yantai merchants began to seek to build railways to develop transportation and revitalize the economy. In 1907, the businessman Zhang Deshan advocated the construction of the Yanwei Railway, when he estimated that the road was about 580 miles long, and it would take about 8 million taels to purchase land and vehicles. Later, due to the difficulties of the German governor in Jiao'ao and the poor fundraising, the Yanwei Railway was still empty talk.
In 1909, Sun Baoqi was appointed inspector of Shandong, and he expressed his strong support for the construction of the Yanwei Railway. In September of that year, Tan Zonghao, a deacon of Yantai Ansi Foreign Firm, invited gentlemen and merchants from all walks of life to discuss road construction, and 2 million yuan of silver was invested as a start-up fund. In December, the prospectus company was established, and Sun Wenshan was publicly elected as the prime minister of the prospectus, and Tan Zonghao and Li Fuquan were the assistant shareholders of the prospectus, and the company immediately offered 5.4 million yuan.
In the process of Yantai gentlemen preparing to build the Yanwei Railway, on the foreign side, the German governor of Jiao'ao and the consul in Jinan repeatedly asked Sun Baoqi to undertake the road, but Sun refused. German ministers in Beijing also pressed the Qing Ministry of Foreign Affairs several times to build the Yanwei Railway.
On the Chinese side, the gentry merchants, the Shandong Consultative Bureau, and the Qing Court Ministry of Posts and Communications all had the original intention of reviving the local economy, developing Yantai transportation, and rejecting foreign invasions, but on sensitive issues such as the raising and use of funds, especially the railway operation and the ownership of road rights, the three parties still distrusted each other, each had its own plans, and Sun Baoqi, the inspector of Shandong in the middle, failed to convince either side, and the gentleman's enthusiasm for road construction gradually faded, resulting in the yanwei railway ultimately failing to be implemented.
Entering the Republic of China, Yantai was the only foreign trade port in northern Shandong, and Weixian was a large station on the Jiaoji railway line. The old road from Yantai to Weixian is rich in products and prosperous industry and commerce, while the former Guanma Avenue has long been unable to meet the passenger and freight transportation needs at that time due to natural disasters and man-made disasters. There is a growing call from merchants along the route to improve the status quo of Yanwei transportation, and they hope to build a Yanwei Railway that can be connected with the Jiaoji Railway.
In 1914, Longkou opened itself as a commercial port, and the trade between Yanlongwei and Yanlongwei increased sharply, especially in Fushan, Penglai, Huangxian, Yexian and Changyi between Yanwei, the number of people going out for business was increasing, and the call for convenient transportation between the two places became more and more urgent.
In 1912, the then Beiyang government had specifically discussed the issue of the Yanwei Railway, but due to the lack of funds, the Yanwei Railway was still on paper.
In April 1914, the Transportation Ministry of the Beiyang Government appointed someone from the Jinpu Railway Administration Bureau as an investigator to investigate the situation along the Yanwei Road from Weixian County, and there seemed to be a glimmer of hope on the Yanwei Railway.
In the ninth year of the Republic of China (1920), the five provinces of Zhili, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi and Shaanxi suffered a major drought, and the disaster in Zhili and Shandong was particularly severe. In order to solve the problems of the victims' livelihood and social stability, under the appeal and suggestions of all parties, the Ministry of Communications of the Beiyang Government decided to collect donations from the four governments of the road and e-mail, and adopted the method of "work for relief" to build Yanwei Road and Cangshi Road.
It should be pointed out that at this time, the "Yanwei Road" is no longer a "Yanwei Railway", but a "Yanwei Highway". Because the Ministry of Communications believes that it is time-consuming and expensive to build a railway, it is better to refer to the railway subgrade standards, build a dirt road first, and then convert it into a railway when the time is ripe.
The reason why "Yanwei Road" has changed from "railway" to "highway", in addition to the constraints of funds, construction periods and technical aspects (such as the inability to solve the problem of track laying in the hilly areas of the Shandong Peninsula), there is actually another reason that is difficult to say, that is, interference and opposition from the Japanese side. Because at that time, the Jiaoji Railway was controlled by the Japanese, once the Yanwei Railway was completed, if it was built to Jinan, the result would inevitably divert the transportation volume of the Jiaoji Line and reduce the competitiveness of the Jiaoji Line, which the Japanese absolutely did not want to see.
In the ninth year of the Republic of China (1920), on October 17, the Yanwei Highway began to be measured from Weixian County, and on November 1, the groundbreaking ceremony was held in Weixian County.
The Total Length of Yanwei Highway is 290 kilometers, and the construction is carried out in two sections, with weixian to Longkou 160 kilometers built first, completed and operated in 1921; Longkou to Yantai 130 kilometers later, completed in January 1922. In January 1923, the Yanwei Highway was opened to traffic, and the entire project lasted 2 years and cost 2 million yuan. Due to the insufficient relief funds allocated by the Ministry of Communications, the 480,000 yuan needed to occupy the private land along the road had to be raised by issuing "land price bonds".
Because it is built according to the railway subgrade standard, the design and construction level of Yanwei Highway is high, its pavement width is 18∼20 city feet, the slope is up to 8 ‰, the minimum curve radius is 100 meters, and the middle layer of the roadbed is filled with gravel sand.
The Yanwei Highway starts from Yantai Bus Station in the east, passes west through Dengzhou (present-day Penglai), Huangxian, Longkou, Laizhou, Changyi, Hanting, and finally reaches The Linmen gate of Dongguan in Weixian (present-day Weifang). There are 11 stations along the line (later increased to 24), from Yantai to Weixian County, arriving at the same day, the speed of the train is 40 ∼ 50 kilometers, which can be described as a divine speed at that time.
Yanwei Highway is the first traffic artery in northeast Lu in modern times, which runs through the northern part of Shandong Peninsula, east of Yanpeng Port, and west of Jiaoji Railway. The completion of the Yanwei Highway and the beginning of automobile transportation not only set a precedent for Shandong Province, but also greatly promoted the economic development and social progress of the areas along the route.
Objectively speaking, the Ministry of Communications of the Beiyang Government has made a contribution to the completion and opening of the Yanwei Highway, after all, it has raised funds, organized work relief, issued bonds, and done a good deed and good deed for the victims and people of Shandong. What makes people cry is that the originally planned railway "changed its face" into a highway, and the bonds originally issued "realized" into a piece of waste paper.
In the merit book of the Yanwei Highway, in addition to Ye Gongqiu, who was in charge of transportation, Wu Peifu, who patrolled Lu Yu, and tireless laborers, his name should also be greatly written.
A key person who cannot be forgotten - Zhao Desan
Telling the smokey past of Yanwei Road, we must not forget a key person, he is Zhao Desan. Interestingly, Zhao Desan and Yanwei Road seem to have some fate. As mentioned earlier, in the early years of the Republic of China, the Ministry of Communications sent someone to investigate the situation along Yanwei Road, and this person was Zhao Desan, who was then the Engineering Department of Jinpu Road.
Zhao Desan (1873∼), Zi Xuantang, nicknamed Mengshi, was a native of Pingdu, Shandong. When he was young, he raised cattle and worked as a cook in the home of Pu Qiwei, a missionary in Huang County, and studied hard in his spare time and practiced fluent English. Initially worked as an interpreter at the U.S. Consulate in Yantai, he was recommended by a noble person to enter the transportation industry, and since then he has been promoted step by step. He successively served as the director of the Engineering Department of the Jinpu Railway Bureau, the acting general engineering department of the northern section of Jinpu Road, the director of the Yanwei Road Engineering Bureau, the director of the Yanwei Automobile Office, the director of the Jiaoji Railway Administration, the director of the Beiluo Railway Administration, the qinlong Yuhai Railway Superintendent, and the director of the Road Administration Department of the Ministry of Communications.
During his tenure in various roads and hubs of the transportation system, Zhao Desan still made little achievements.
In 1920, the Ministry of Communications of the Beiyang Government decided to build the Yanwei Highway with work-for-charity, and set up the Yanwei Road Engineering Bureau, appointing Zhao Desan as the director. After being ordered, Zhao Desan went to Jinan to make arrangements with the Shandong Provincial Government to discuss the specific implementation plans and methods for building the road. In October 1921, due to the suspension of the donation of relief funds, there was no money to pay for the purchase of land on Yanwei Road, and the Ministry of Communications had no choice but to issue short-term bonds to landlords to pay debts, with a total bond of 480,000 yuan. This kind of "short-term bond with a denomination of one yuan, Yanwei Road, the Ministry of Communications", with an interest of eight percent on the annual interest, has been paid once every six months since September 1, 111, the Republic of China, and paid off in full for three years, that is, on August 30, 1414 of the Republic of China, stamped with the seal of the Ministry of Communications, and the payment is Gao Enhong, the chief of transportation, and Zhao Desan, director of the Yanwei Automobile Department.
In May and September 1922, with Zhangjiakou as the center, the workers of the Jingsui Railway launched a struggle against the Beiyang government's betrayal of the management of the Jingsui Railway. Under the circumstance that Gao Enhong, the director of the Ministry of Communications, and the workers of Jingsui were seriously opposed and did not compromise with each other, Zhao Desan, then director of the Department of Highway Administration of the Ministry of Communications, sent a letter to Taikang Foreign Firm, condemning the infringement and stating China's position. In the end, it prompted the Jingsui Road Bureau to cancel the unequal contracts signed with the Americans and maintain the sovereignty of the Jingsui Railway.
On January 1, 1923, according to the relevant agreement signed between China and Japan, Japan handed over the Shandong Railway and its branch lines and all ancillary property to the Chinese government. In the same month, the Jiaoji Railway Administration bureau was established, and the Beiyang government appointed Zhao Desan as the director of the Jiaoji Railway Administration. Zhao Desan was not only the first director of Jiaoji Road after the return of Jiaoji Road, he also participated in the handover ceremony of Jiaoji Railway, receiving and signing the all-road asset register from the Japanese. Zhao Desan also compiled this personal experience into a book called "Taking Over the Jiaoji Railway Chronicle", which was divided into two volumes, which was issued in lead copies by the Beijing Jinghua Printing And Publishing Bureau in the 13th year of the Republic of China (1924).
In 1926, the book "Yanwei Road Workers' Relief Jiluo" compiled by Zhao Desan came out, which was divided into 11 volumes of origins, negotiations, industrial patrols, relief services, engineering, accounting, and investigations, which is a relatively complete historical data on the record of the construction of the yantai-Weixian highway in 1920-1922.
During the Republic of China period, Zhao Desan was a big name in the transportation industry, and unexpectedly, he was still an influential painter in the Qingdao area of Shandong Province. There are literature such as introduction: "Zhao Desan, Pingdu people, Gong Shanshui, for Weixian Liu Jiaying (Zi Shifu, 1861 ∼ 1902, famous painter) into the disciple and has the reputation of blue, as an engineering expert in the road political position, the political voice of the far-reaching, out of the rest of the Xu sent affection, for the art garden sect. ”
In the early spring of 1927, Qingdao's first art society, the Shaohai Calligraphy and Painting Society, was founded, and in 1934, the Shaohai Calligraphy and Painting Society was dissolved. From 1928 to 1929, the first and second episodes of the Shaohai Calligraphy and Painting Society were published successively, and the distributors were Qingdao Zhonghua Bookstore and Qingdao Industrial Mountain House. The calligraphy and painting album contains a total of 31 works, including 50 Chinese paintings, 5 calligraphy paintings, and 2 seal engravings. The next collection of "Shaohai Calligraphy and Painting Society Calligraphy and Painting Album" includes 2 paintings by Zhao Desan, one painting of landscapes, heavy mountains and mountains, strange pine stones, showing traditional skills; one is a fan, which is jointly created with Chen Jiyun (the railway commissioner of the Ministry of Communications in Jiaoji).
The "Shaohai Calligraphy and Painting Society Calligraphy and Painting Album" not only includes the calligraphy and painting works of many members, but also lists the names of the 21 initiators of the "Shaohai Calligraphy and Painting Society". The first place is Liu Xisan, and the penultimate place is Song Yisu. Liu Xisan is the founder of Qingdao's long-established hat village "Sheng Xifu", while Song Yisu is the head of the locomotive section of the Jiaoji Railway Bureau. Although Liu and Song are both the initiators of the calligraphy and painting society, song is still the core figure, but the real boss of the calligraphy and painting club is Zhao Desan, a "high-level" painter who hides behind the scenes.
Zhao Desan was a high-powered role in the political arena at that time, especially in the transportation industry, and the Jiaoji Railway Bureau was able to reserve considerable calligraphy and painting talents, in other words, the Shaohai Calligraphy and Painting Society could absorb 13 railway calligraphers and painters, and often held painting exhibitions in the bell tower of Qingdao Railway Station, all relying on the strong support of Zhao Desan, the "old director". In 1934, due to political and economic reasons, the Shaohai Calligraphy and Painting Society dissolved itself. Although it has only existed for 7 years, members such as the Shaohai Calligraphy and Painting Society and Zhao Desan have added a lot of color to the modern history of Qingdao art.
The topic returns to the beginning of this article, the completion and opening of the DaLailong Railway and the Longyan Railway have aroused the author's recollection of the past history and characters of Yanwei Road. This is exactly:
A Yanwei Road, less than six hundred miles, is a road is a railway, and the time train has gone for a century.
A Zhao Desan, unknown year of birth and death, also a painter and director, a traffic celebrity left a legend.
Zhao Desan, director of the Yanwei Road Engineering Bureau
The Ministry of Transport issued short-term bonds for land price