The "Cixi Special Line" in Beihai

There are many holidays in September and October, and the major attractions in the capital are crowded with people, and Beihai is no exception.

It may be difficult for tourists to notice when people come and go: Just on the west side of the Fucui Pavilion of the Five Dragons Pavilion in Beihai, there are six square water caves, with stones paved on them as roads. These inconspicuous culverts are actually very commemorative, because they were a railway bridge specially built in the Qing Dynasty for Empress Dowager Cixi to ride a small train into the park. They are also the only remains left of this railway. Later generations will call it "Small train bridge".

The Qing government was extremely resistant to railway construction. In the second year of Tongzhi (1863), Li Hongzhang, governor of Zhili, once suggested that the court build a railway. In order to win the support of Empress Dowager Cixi, Li Hongzhang suggested first building a railway in Xiyuan and setting up a special train to let Empress Dowager Cixi experience the taste of riding a train. This matter won the support of Emperor Guangxu. In the twelfth year of Guangxu (1886), construction began on the railway in Huangcheng Yuyuan. It started at Yingxiu Garden in Zhonghai and ended at Jingqingzhai in Beihai. It was renamed Jingxinzhai) with a total length of 1,510.4 meters. Completed in the 14th year of Guangxu (1888). After the completion of the Xiyuan Railway, Empress Dowager Cixi could take a small train from Ziguangge Station to tour Beihai at any time, and then go to Jingqingzhai to rest.

In the 26th year of Guangxu (1900), the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing and the Beihai gardens were severely damaged. The Xiyuan Railway was also abandoned because it lacked financial resources for maintenance. Later, the court also raised funds several times to repair the Xiyuan Railway, but in the end, it was forced to give up due to social unrest, empty treasury, and insufficient financial resources. Before the opening of Beihai Park in 1925, the remaining Xiyuan Railway was demolished.

On the eve of Japan's defeat, due to the extreme scarcity of war readiness resources, the Japanese consulate secretly ordered the puppet regime to collect steel and metal utensils from all over Beijing in the name of collecting scrap steel. Historical records: "Four Beihai rails were collected, totaling 680 kilograms." These are the rails of the original Xiyuan Railway, and another 18 rails were used when building houses in Xiancan and other places.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, during the construction of the Ming Tombs Reservoir, Huairou Reservoir and Miyun Reservoir, the Beijing City government transferred small locomotives from Beihai to the reservoir construction site to pull trailers and transport earthworks and stones. News reports at the time said: "Empress Dowager Cixi's small train began to serve socialist construction."

The author knows an old reporter who followed and reported on the work of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other central leaders in the Ming Tombs Reservoir. He saw a small locomotive transporting supplies at the Ming Tombs Reservoir, and described in detail the characteristics of the Empress Dowager Cixi's small locomotive to the author: the locomotive was an oblate round water tank with a large bell obviously hung on it. The bell looked very similar to the clock hanging on European churches. Its shape was different from today's locomotives and seemed to have a strange beauty.