Chapter 186: Generations of construction workers have created the great Chinese infrastructure!
[Yes, even if the Chinese technology was very backward at that time, it was just a little slower to repair, and at most a few people died. Why did so many people die? ]

[Even if it is backward, the most basic excavation machinery should be available, right? Excavators, bulldozers, etc.]

[Are you too focused on the deadline, working day and night, and dying of exhaustion? ]

[I heard that there is a saying in China called "pouring human piles"! When breaking ground, some people must be sacrificed to pray for peace. They will not be buried there! ]

[Oh my god, what kind of feudal superstition is this? It's so horrible! ]

Bruce shook his head seriously and found a few more pictures. "That's not the case. China was much more backward than you can imagine. These people sacrificed themselves to complete the construction mission."

In that era, due to the simple industrial conditions, there were no large-scale machinery and tunnel excavation relied entirely on manpower.

The shovel and the steel drill became the most loyal companions, gnawing at the hard rock bit by bit.

Lacking effective safety protection, the workers faced the dangers of rockfall and explosions, and every swing of a tool was a gamble with death.

Watching the people around them fall one by one, they couldn't help but ask the heavens: When will we no longer have to pay the price of life when digging tunnels?
It was this sad question that sowed the seeds of hope for the rise of China's tunnel boring machines!

The time came to 1930, and China began to build another highly representative infrastructure project, the Yangtze River Bridge!
This is China's first independently developed and built bridge, and it is very representative!
Those who built the Yangtze River Bridge were called China's second generation of construction workers.

In 1930, the Chinese government paid a large sum of money to hire foreign bridge master John Wattler to conduct a feasibility study on bridge construction in the waters between Xiaguan and Pukou. The result was that the water flow was turbulent and building a bridge was not easy.

He refused to build the Yangtze River Bridge, as he believed it was a difficult project to accomplish.

There was also a person in history who said to China that you can't do it, just give up, this thing can't be built!

The person who heard this was called Zhan Tianyou.

Then he did not give up. Instead, he successfully built the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway with his original zigzag railway, which made the Chinese people very proud!
Hua Xia naturally did not listen to John.

Since you can't do it, let's make it ourselves!
It’s not the first time anyway!

So, despite opposition from overseas experts, China launched the construction plan of the Jinling Yangtze River Bridge.

But just when the project was launched, our relationship with the Russian bear broke down.

Almost all of the Russian experts evacuated back to their country, and even the steel needed to build the bridge became in short supply.

However, faced with challenges, China's construction workers did not back down, but chose to rise to the challenge.

If there is no steel, they will produce it themselves!

In the absence of foreign experts, they designed it themselves!

In order to impress foreigners, the Jinling Yangtze River Bridge is also called the Bridge of Reputation, carrying the expectations of the Chinese people.

[Zhengqi Bridge? What an interesting name.]

[It is obvious that the Chinese want to prove that the foreign experts are wrong! ]

I wonder if they succeeded in the end?

The construction process was full of hardships. It came at a time of economic difficulty in the country and the project was on the verge of stalling several times.

The workers' living conditions were extremely difficult. They had only porridge and wild vegetables for every meal, and many of them suffered from edema as a result.

Even in such a harsh environment, the construction of the bridge never really stopped. It was not until December 1968 that the bridge was finally completed and opened to traffic. It was listed in the Guinness World Records as the world's longest highway and railway dual-use bridge, which truly made China respected by the world!

Although there are many bridges in China today, building bridges is a very easy task.

But without these great construction workers at that time, there would be no achievements in bridges today.

The third generation of construction workers truly made China lead the world in technology.

Whether it is digging railways or tunnels, the most useful large-scale machinery is undoubtedly the tunnel boring machine.

At one time, China's shield machine technology lagged behind developed countries by as much as a century.

If you want to carry out large-scale projects, you must rely on very expensive imported tunnel boring machines.

The price tag is often hundreds of millions, and the maintenance costs are equally high. Moreover, foreign countries often find fault, asking for money in various ways with various reasons, or deliberately slowing down the progress.

Because China does not understand tunnel boring machines, it can only hire engineers from foreign countries to perform repairs.

They clearly asked for billing by the hour, and what was even more outrageous was that they asked for charging starting from the time the engineer left!
In order to get more money, they deliberately sent away the Chinese staff on the grounds of confidentiality, and then deliberately delayed the maintenance time!

Faced with such shameless behavior, we are helpless.

If you want to build a large-scale project, you must have a tunnel boring machine.

China has suffered such losses for decades!

"Such expensive equipment, and our demand is so great. If foreign countries can make it, can't we Chinese make it ourselves?"

"Of course we can! And we have to make it better than any other country!"

In order to no longer be controlled by others, China has included the research and development of core technologies of tunnel boring machines into its high-tech research and development program, also known as the 863 Program!

On the day the research team was established, the chief engineer made a vow: We must build our own tunnel boring machine!
In 2004, China's first tunnel boring machine pioneer came into being.

Two years later, tunnel boring machines began to be mass-produced.

At first it could only be used in subway excavation, but with the development of science and technology, independently developed shield machines came into being, finally breaking the technological monopoly of developed countries for nearly a century!
In 2012, the TBM went abroad for the first time and was successfully used in Malaysia. After that, it became unstoppable and was exported to more than twenty countries!
In 2013 and 2015, the world's largest rectangular shield machine and hard rock tunnel boring machine at that time were developed.

Today, domestically produced tunnel boring machines have captured more than 90% of the domestic market share and two-thirds of the international market share!

It is no exaggeration to say that the whole world is using tunnel boring machines produced in China!
The countries that looked down upon China at that time have now been severely slapped in the face.

Not only that, all the business was taken away by China!

In 2018, China exported tunnel boring machines with an export value of more than million US dollars.

China's shield machines are easy to use and cheap. Why don't you buy China's instead of the ridiculously expensive ones from Western countries?

In order to win this price war, some countries have spent a lot of money and cut prices crazily!

The shield machine that originally sold for hundreds of millions of yuan each now sells for more than 20 million yuan each!
It still can’t be sold!

Sorry, China’s is still cheaper than yours!

(End of this chapter)