The belated development of railways in China stemmed from both the country's weak industrial base and the skeptical stance of the Qing dynasty toward the new mode of transport. Prominent voices — among them statesman Lin Zexu (1785–1850) and Taiping leader Hong Rengan (1822–1864) — had called for railway construction in China, but the conservative Qing court was not to be persuaded, dismissing steam engines as "clever but useless" devices and opposing railways on the grounds that they "would deprive us of our defensive barriers, damage our fields, and upset our feng shui."
Yet many Chinese encountered railways sooner than their compatriots at home. In the 1860s, tens of thousands of Chinese contract workers made a decisive contribution to transport construction in the United States, participating in the building of the First Transcontinental Railroad among other major projects.
Railway workers inspect a steam locomotive at a depot in Nanjing, the former capital of China. Photo: AP / TASS
In the meantime, in 1865 a British merchant constructed a 600-metre, 600 mm gauge railway outside the Xuanwu Gate in Beijing in order to demonstrate the new mode of transport to the imperial court. The court deemed it "exceedingly unusual" and promptly ordered it dismantled.
The first public railway in China opened in Shanghai in July 1876. This 14.5 km line with a gauge of 2 feet 6 inches (762 mm), known as the Wusong Road, ran from the American Settlement (a leased concession enjoying extraterritorial rights) in what is now the Zhabei district to Wusong in the present-day Baoshan district, and was built by the British trading firm Jardine, Matheson & Co.
However, construction had proceeded without the approval of the Qing government and was therefore unlawful. The line operated for less than a year before it was purchased for 285,000 silver taels by Shen Baozhen, Viceroy of Liangjiang, and dismantled in October 1877. The rails and rolling stock were subsequently shipped to Taiwan. The route now forms part of the elevated Line 3 of the Shanghai Metro.
The opening of the Wusong Railway, 1876 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Yet, as Laozi said, "A journey of a thousand li begins with a single step" — and the diminutive Wusong Road gave impetus to all subsequent railway construction in the country. The young British engineer Claude William Kinder (1852–1936), who had studied railway engineering in St. Petersburg, in 1881 built a 1,435 mm gauge line 10 km in length from a coal mine at Tangshan to Xugezhuang. This line became known as the Guanneiwai Railway. Its construction was made possible by the support of the powerful Li Hongzhang, then Viceroy of Zhili, who overcame the objections of conservative ministers.
It had originally been intended that the line would use mules for traction; however, Kinder secretly designed and built a makeshift steam locomotive, which he named the Chinese Rocket — a reference to George Stephenson's famous Rocket — thereby producing the first steam locomotive manufactured in China.
Subsequently extended to Tianjin, Shanhaiguan, and Suizhong, the line became the first major railway in the country, known as the Imperial Railways of North China, and later, following the Xinhai Revolution, as the Beijing–Mukden Railway (Mukden being present-day Shenyang). Kinder served as Chief Engineer of this railway for nearly thirty years until his retirement in 1909, his service being recognized with both the British Order of St. Michael and St. George and the Chinese Order of the Double Dragon.
The "Chinese Rocket", 1881 (Source: Wikimedia Commons. Photo: C.W. Kinder)
The next attempt at railway construction in China was undertaken by Liu Mingchuan, Governor of Taiwan. Between 1887 and 1893, some 107 km of track were laid from Keelung to Taipei and Xinzhu. Following the transfer of Taiwan to Japanese control in 1895, this railway was regauged to 1,067 mm, the standard adopted in Japan.
China's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895 provided an impetus for railway development, as the Qing dynasty came to recognize the importance of modernization and was compelled to grant foreign powers concessions for railway construction, as well as rights to lease settlements and exploit mineral resources. The Great Powers — principally Russia, Germany, and Great Britain — began constructing railways intensively within their respective spheres of influence. By 1900, the total length of railway lines in China had reached 470 km, with a further 6,400 km at various stages of construction and planning.
A timber freight train at the Chinese station of Manzhouli, near the Russian–Chinese border. Photo: TASS
Thus, Russo-Chinese negotiations held at the end of 1895 — led on the Russian side by S.Yu. Witte — resulted in the signing in Moscow on 22 May 1896 of a secret treaty of military alliance between the two countries and the agreement to construct the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER) with a gauge of 1,524 mm. The construction and operation of the line was entrusted to a joint-stock company established by the Russo-Chinese Bank, though carried out under the supervision and direction of the Russian government, which guaranteed the company's capital.
Construction of the CER main line along the route Manchuria Station – Harbin – Grodekovo Station was carried out between 1897 and 1901 (with regular operation commencing in 1903), while the South Manchurian Branch from Harbin to Port Arthur (Lüshun) was built between 1898 and 1903. Thanks to the CER, the Russian Far East secured a direct rail connection with the center of the country.
Harbin Railway Station (Russian pre-revolutionary postcard) (Source: 47news.ru)
Americans constructed the Canton (Guangzhou)–Samshui railway line in Guangdong Province between 1902 and 1904. The Germans built the 393 km Qingdao–Jinan line in Shandong Province between 1899 and 1904. The British constructed the Shanghai–Nanjing Railway (1905–1908) and completed the Kowloon (now a district of Hong Kong)–Canton line in 1911. British and German industrialists jointly built the Tianjin–Pukou Railway (Pukou being now a district of Nanjing) between 1908 and 1912. All these lines were laid to the 1,435 mm gauge.
The French, however, built the 855 km Sino-Vietnamese Railway between 1904 and 1910 to a gauge of 1,000 mm — a gauge previously widely used in France on secondary lines — thereby connecting the Chinese city of Kunming with French Indochina.
The Faux-Namti Viaduct on the Sino–Vietnamese Railway, whose construction cost the lives of more than 800 Chinese laborers (Source: F.A. Talbot, The Railway Conquest of the World. London: W. Heinemann, 1911).
In an effort to reduce the influence of the Great Powers, the Qing court awarded concession rights for the Beijing–Hankow Railway (now part of the city of Wuhan) to Belgium, which constructed the line between 1897 and 1906, including a bridge across the Yangtze River. The Japanese built a short, 39 km railway line from Chaochow to Shantou between 1904 and 1906. Furthermore, following their victory in the Russo-Japanese War, under the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth, the southern section of the CER from Changchun (Kuanchengzi Station) to Port Arthur passed to Japanese administration. The line was regauged twice — first to 1,067 mm during the war, and then back to 1,435 mm after the cessation of hostilities.
High-speed railway construction in Hubei Province. Photo: Zuma / TASS
The rapid expansion of foreign ownership and operation of railways in China provoked considerable public discontent. To support the development of the local economy and generate railway revenues, the government in 1904 permitted provincial authorities to establish their own railway companies and raise funds through the public sale of shares. Between 1904 and 1907, fifteen provinces established their own railway construction companies and raised capital by selling shares to citizens and levying taxes.
The first railway to be designed and managed by Chinese nationals was the Beijing–Zhangjiakou Railway, built between 1905 and 1909. Its Chief Engineer was Zhan Tianyou (1861–1919), who is celebrated as the "Father of Chinese Railways." A graduate of Yale University, he had trained under Claude Kinder and went on to build a distinguished career not only in railway engineering but also in academia, earning international recognition. Several monuments to Zhan Tianyou have been erected in China, and a memorial museum dedicated to him operates in Beijing.
Zhan Tianyou in 1909 (Source: Staff Résumé of the Jingzhang Railway, Volume 1. Photo taken at the Tongsheng photographic studio in Shanghai)
Also in 1909, construction was completed on the 189 km Shanghai–Hangzhou line, financed by the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The total length of China's railways reached 9,000 km. Events thereafter, however, took a dramatic turn.
In 1911, as some provincial railways faced bankruptcy, foreign powers pressured the Chinese authorities to allow them to absorb these lines. In May of the same year, the government attempted to nationalize these locally controlled railway companies and transfer their concessions to foreign banks in exchange for loans. The nationalization order provoked fierce resistance, giving rise to the Railway Protection Movement, whose events contributed to the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, which overthrew the Qing dynasty.
Track-laying on a bridge along the Beijing–Shenyang high-speed rail route. Photo: Zuma / TASS
In early 1912, Dr. Sun Yat-sen — leader of the Kuomintang and provisional President of the Republic of China — who believed that a national railway network was the key to China's modernization, initiated a series of railway development projects that were successfully implemented following the unification of most of the country under Kuomintang rule.
Between 1928 and 1937, some 3,600 km of railways were constructed within the Great Wall on territory controlled by the republican government in Nanjing (then China's capital), along with 900 km in Manchuria (prior to its occupation by Japan in 1931). In 1935, as relations between the Soviet Union and the Japanese-created puppet state of Manchukuo deteriorated, the CER was sold to the Manchurian authorities, who subsequently regauged it to 1,435 mm.
The Qinghai–Tibet Railway — the world's highest-altitude main line. Photo: Imago / TASS
In 1937, full-scale war broke out — known in China as the "Eight-Year War of Resistance Against Japan." To slow the Japanese advance, the republican government dismantled a number of railway lines. Nevertheless, 1,900 km of railway lines were built (or completed) in China's interior regions after the enemy occupied the coastal areas.
Among these, the following standard-gauge railways deserve particular mention: the Longhai Railway (the Lingbao–Tongguan and Xi'an–Baoji sections); the Zhejiang–Jiangxi Railway (the Hangzhou–Pingxiang section); and the Guangdong–Hankow Railway (the Zhuzhou–Shaoguan section). Standing apart was the 865 km Datong–Pucheng Railway, laid to a gauge of 762 mm. The Japanese occupiers, using forced labor, built 5,700 km of railways in Manchuria and Rehe Province and a further 900 km in the rest of China.
A Japanese Type 2593 "Sumida" armored railcar during railway construction in Manchuria (Source: picturehistory.livejournal.com)
By 1945, following the end of the war with Japan, the mainland of China had some 27,000 km of railways, of which approximately 23,000 km were operational. By 1948, however, at the height of the civil war between the ruling Nationalists (Kuomintang) and the Communists, the amount of usable track had fallen to 8,000 km as a result of mutual acts of sabotage.
By 1951, following substantial investment in reconstruction, the Communists — who had established the People's Republic of China (PRC) in October 1949 — had succeeded in restoring the greater part of the network (approximately 22,000 km). In addition, Soviet railway troops and mobilized local inhabitants regauged the former CER back to 1,524 mm (including the Harbin–Port Arthur branch). Under the name of the Chinese Changchun Railway (CCR), it had passed to joint Soviet-Chinese administration on 14 August 1945 for a period of 30 years; however, on 31 December 1952, as a gesture of goodwill, the CCR was transferred to China without compensation.
Train attendants aboard a high-speed train on the Nanjing–Nantong service. Photo: Zuma / TASS
Large-scale transport construction unfolded across the country. From 1952 — when the PRC's first railway, the Chengdu–Chongqing line, was put into operation — through to the end of the First Five-Year Plan in 1957, some 6,100 km of railways were built. Lines constructed during this period included the terminal sections of the Longhai and Xianggui railways, as well as the Litan–Zhanjiang, Yingtan–Xiamen, Lancun–Yantai, and Xiaoshan–Ningbo railways. These lines, together with the Baoji–Chengdu Railway (completed in 1958) and the 1,900 km Lanzhou–Urumqi Railway (completed in 1962), extended the national network into the northwest and southwest, improving connectivity between the coast and the interior.
The subsequent launch of the Great Leap Forward — an economic and political campaign in China from 1958 to 1960 aimed at strengthening the industrial base and achieving rapid economic growth — had a detrimental effect on railway transport.
The opening ceremony of the Chengdu–Chongqing Railway at Chengdu Station, 1952 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Ill-conceived decisions to increase the trailing load of freight trains on all main lines from 2,700 to 3,600 tons without a corresponding increase in locomotive power resulted in trains stalling on gradients, damage to rolling stock, and the overheating and explosion of steam locomotive boilers. Although the railways did indeed set records — carrying 1.4 billion passengers and 1.5 billion tons of freight over the three years from 1958 to 1960, approximately 200 million more passengers and 0.5 billion more tons than during the five years from 1953 to 1958 — freight volumes fell to 345 million tons in 1962.
The situation improved only by 1965, when freight volumes reached 480 million tons and China's railways set a new record for net profit. Furthermore, the economic and social disruption caused by the Great Leap Forward, along with the departure of Soviet specialists, slowed railway construction, with the result that building work on numerous lines — such as the Dazhou–Chengdu Railway — was delayed by decades.
Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Mao Zedong and train attendant Zhang Yufeng beside a special-service carriage manufactured in the GDR, 1964 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
A separate note is warranted regarding the locomotives used on China's railways. At the time of the founding of the PRC, the country's locomotive fleet comprised 4,069 steam locomotives of 198 different types, manufactured in Russia (at the Bryansk, Kharkov, and Lugansk works), the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Japan — mostly of older series, which had earned China's railways the nickname "the International Steam Locomotive Museum." What was needed to drive economic recovery was a new, powerful locomotive designed and built in the PRC.
HP-3501 — the first locomotive of the HP series, produced at the Datong Locomotive Works, 1959 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
On 18 September 1956, the first HP-series locomotive was built at Dalian; its design bore a strong resemblance to the Soviet LV-class locomotive. Production continued at several works until 1960. Manufacture of this locomotive type under the designation QJ, or Qianjin ("Progress"), was resumed in 1964 at the Datong Locomotive Works and concluded in 1988, with a total of 4,714 units produced. The Qianjin locomotives, which served as the principal locomotive type in the PRC, remained in service until 2005.
The Cultural Revolution, which began in 1966, gave rise to political upheaval throughout the country and disrupted railway operations. Between 1966 and 1967, the accident rate rose by 25%. At the peak of the chaos gripping China, the railways were placed under military administration in the summer of 1967; nevertheless, the accident rate increased by a further 20% between 1967 and 1968.
The Moscow–Beijing train, 1989. Photo: Vladimir Medvedev / TASS
Only in 1969 did the situation begin to improve, both across the country and on the railways. The year 1970 proved a record year for railway construction over the decade, with 1,700 km of lines commissioned, while in 1973 some 800 million tons of freight were carried over the network — a new record. In April 1975, planned targets for the haulage of coal — China's principal freight commodity — were met for the first time in nearly five years.
Following the end of the Cultural Revolution and the launch of economic reforms in 1978, the railways were reorganized with a focus on improving technical capability, profitability, safety, and labor productivity. These principles guided the work of China's railway professionals in the decades that followed. The pace of network expansion was relatively modest during the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, yet it was precisely during this period that the foundations were laid for the present-day railway renaissance in the PRC.
The most widely produced diesel locomotive in the PRC is the DF4B, manufactured since 1985. More than 4,500 such locomotives have been built. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Owing to low labor costs, cheap coal, and the simplicity of production, steam traction long dominated China's railways. During the 1980s and 1990s, however, steam locomotives on main lines were gradually superseded by diesel and electric traction. The last steam-hauled train in the PRC ran on 15 January 2024, worked by locomotive JS-8089 on a colliery siding at the Sandaoling coal mine in Xinjiang Province.
Railway lines that had been planned during the Great Leap Forward era were also built and completed. Thus, in 1990 construction was completed on the Urumqi–Druzhba line (the border station in the USSR, now Dostyk in Kazakhstan), and in 1999 rail service was extended to Kashgar in the far west of the country. Between 1991 and 2000, the operational length of China's railways increased from 57,800 km to 68,700 km..
Kunming Railway Station. Photo: Zuma / TASS
The most challenging undertaking was the construction of the railway into Tibet. The line was first extended to Xining in Qinghai; by 1984, the section between Xining and Golmud had been completed; and only in 2006 was construction finished on the Qingzang Railway, connecting Lhasa with the rest of China and becoming the world's highest-altitude railway. Since then, every province and autonomous region of the PRC has been served by the railway network.
The Qingzang (Qinghai–Tibet) Railway (Source: AP Photo / Xinhua. Photo: Han Yuqing)
For a quarter of a century now, China has been experiencing an unprecedented railway boom which, in terms of both its scale and duration, has surpassed the surge of the 1950s. The most significant trend in this development has been the formation of a high-speed railway (HSR) network. As far back as 1978, Deputy Premier of the State Council of the PRC Deng Xiaoping made a visit to Japan during which he familiarized himself with the Shinkansen — the world's first high-speed railway.
As part of the modernization of railway infrastructure, high-speed services were inaugurated in China in April 2007, with the first dedicated HSR line — the Beijing–Tianjin Railway — entering service in August 2008. The following year, the PRC moved into second place worldwide in terms of the total length of its public railway network (after the United States), overtaking the Russian Federation.
A Beijing–Jilin high-speed train passing through Xi'an (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
China's HSR system now extends to all first-order administrative units (including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region), with the exception of the Macao SAR. The PRC is the world leader in high-speed rail; the Beijing–Kunming Railway, with a total length of 2,760 km, is the longest HSR line in the world.
At the close of 2023, the operational length of the PRC's railway network reached 159,000 km — of which 45,000 km are high-speed lines — representing a 2.3-fold increase compared to 2000. Construction of conventional railway lines continues as well, including diesel-traction lines; for example, on 16 August 2014, the 253 km Lhasa–Shigatse Railway was commissioned as an extension of the Qingzang Railway.
Photo: Imago / TASS
Joint Russian-Chinese projects are also being implemented: on 16 November 2022, traffic opened on the new 7,194-metre Nizhneleninskoye–Tongjiang railway bridge across the Amur River, built jointly by China and Russia. In this context, the preservation of the memory of the era of Soviet-Chinese cooperation in the early years of the People's Republic of China takes on great significance.
The Shanghai–Kunming high-speed railway, 2,252 km in length. Photo: Zuma / TASS
To strengthen humanitarian ties with railway professionals of the Russian Federation, in early October 2024 Moscow was visited by Teng Fei, son of Teng Daiyuan (1904–1974), Minister of Railways of the PRC from 1954 to 1965. Notably, this landmark visit took place with the assistance of the Department of Overseas Projects and International Cooperation of JSC Russian Railways, in the year marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the PRC and the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries.
A joint project of 1520International and the Institute for Economics and Transport Development (IETD)
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