Zhan Tianyou Memorial Museum and Qinglongqiao Station

Badaling Great Wall Station is about 25 minutes from Beijing North Station by high-speed train. Because the station is located deep underground, it takes more than ten minutes to reach the exit using a series of long escalators. The Zhan Tianyou Memorial Museum stands immediately outside the station.

Zhan Tianyou was born in Guangdong Province in the eleventh year of the Xianfeng era of the Qing dynasty (1861; Man'en 2/Bunkyū 1 in Japan). At the traditional age of twelve, he was selected as one of the Qing government's first publicly funded students to study in the United States. He later studied civil engineering, with a particular focus on railway engineering, at Yale University and graduated. After returning to China, he worked at naval educational institutions and other organizations. From the fourteenth year of the Guangxu era (1888; Meiji 21), he worked as an engineer for the China Railway Company and took part in the construction of the Jingu Railway (Tianjin–Tanggu), the Jinyu Railway (Tianjin–Shanhaiguan), the Xinyi Railway (Gaobeidian–Yi County), and other lines. He was subsequently appointed chief engineer of the Jingzhang Railway between Beijing and Zhangjiakou and sought to build it entirely under Chinese direction, without foreign loans or foreign engineers. The route crossed the mountainous Badaling area and required numerous tunnels and bridges, but it opened successfully in the first year of the Xuantong era (1909; Meiji 42). He later worked on the Yuehan Railway between Guangzhou and Hankou and the Chuanhan Railway between Chengdu and Hankou. He died of illness in the eighth year of the Republic of China (1919; Taishō 8).

Many routes were considered for crossing this section, and three proposals remained in the final stage. The first ran from Fengtai along the Yongding River valley via Sanjiadian to Shacheng. Because the route contained many steep cliffs, it would have required numerous tunnels and bridges, making the project extremely large. The second ran from Fengtai through Nankou and the Guangou valley, crossed Badaling, and continued to Shacheng. The third made a detour from Changping through Deshengkou and Yanqing to Shacheng. Although it avoided Badaling, the route was excessively long and would have required extensive rock excavation. The second proposal was selected as the most practical under the budgetary and scheduling constraints of the time, despite the restriction on transport capacity caused by the switchback at Qinglongqiao.

Construction of the Jingzhang Railway began in the thirty-first year of the Guangxu era (1905; Meiji 38) and was divided into three sections. It was completed four years later, ahead of schedule, in the first year of the Xuantong era (1909; Meiji 42). The crossing of Badaling required the approximately 1,091-metre Badaling Tunnel and a switchback line near Qinglongqiao.

The museum displays photographs of locomotives used during the early years of the Jingzhang Railway. The 2-6-0 tender locomotive No. 10 was built at the Tangshan Works in China. The 2-6-2 tank locomotive carrying the initials P.M.B.L. on its side tanks was built by Baldwin in the United States in 1909. P.M.B.L. stands for Peking–Mentougou Branch Line, a coal-hauling branch that ran from Xizhimen through Sanjiadian and other locations to Mentougou. The three-cylinder Shay locomotive No. 28 was built by Lima in the United States in 1909. I.P.K.R. stands for Imperial Peking–Kalgan Railway, the contemporary English name for the government-operated Jingzhang Railway. Kalgan was the historical English name for Zhangjiakou. The 0-6-6-0 Mallet locomotive No. 23 was built in 1907 at the Queens Park Works of the North British Locomotive Company in Britain.

The station building at Qinglongqiao retains the appearance of the original structure. The characters reading “Qinglongqiao Station” were inscribed by Guan Mianjun (1871–1933), an official and railway administrator active from the late Qing period into the early Republic of China who served as an assistant manager of the Jingzhang Railway. With other routes now carrying the main flow of traffic, Qinglongqiao no longer handles passengers. Beijing Suburban Railway Line S2 trains make an operational stop here to reverse direction over the switchback. During my visit in 2026, the station was fenced off and could not be entered. The locomotive on display is No. 38, a 2-6-0 tender locomotive. After service on the Peking–Mukden Railway, it was preserved at the Jitong Railway's Reshui Hotel and was moved here in 2025. It has no direct connection with the Jingzhang Railway.

Within the station grounds stand a statue of Zhan Tianyou and a commemorative monument. The graves of Zhan Tianyou and his wife are reached by climbing the steps behind the statue. The inscription on the monument was composed and written in the eighth year of the Republic of China (1919; Taishō 8) by Xu Shichang, then President of the Beiyang government, and praises Zhan's life and achievements. The statue was erected in the eleventh year of the Republic of China (1922; Taishō 11) and was created by the Japanese sculptor Tatehata Taimu. The graves were moved to this site and restored in 1982. When I visited in 2007, it was possible to walk up to the graves, but the station grounds are now closed and they can only be viewed from a distance. During that 2007 visit, railway staff were enjoying karaoke in front of the graves.