In July 2025, Suzhou-Jiaxing Railway Ruins Park in Wangjiangjing Town, Jiaxing, become a popular destination for study tours.  

At the Park, a locomotive is prominently displayed beside a section of the original railway bed. Nearby, a reconstructed waiting room of Wangjiangjing Railway Station stands with its entrance bearing a weathered station sign of stone.  

Beside the Waiting Room there are three restored fortifications with walls over half a meter thick. Through the bullet holes, light shines the inside. Those  fortifications bear witness to this railway’s wartime struggles during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-1945).  

The 74.44-kilometer Suzhou-Jiaxing Railway (hereinafter referred to as Railway) was constructed as a strategic asset in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, but was devastated in 1945.  

“The Suzhou-Jiaxing Railway is an indelible memory for residents of Jiaxing,” said Wang Jinsheng, a local history researcher. For years, Jiaxing has worked to preserve the Railway ruins through persistent restoration. In 2018, Wangjiangjing transformed reclaimed industrial buildings into this memorial park, now serving as an important site for history study and revolutionary heritage preservation.  

Reliving the wartime years 

Born in Wangjiangjing, Wang Jinsheng grew up near the Railway and often heard the accounts of the Railway from elders. As a researcher, he has dedicated years to the reconstruction, research and archaeological excavations of the Railway.  

Guided by him on July 17, the reporter came to the Railway Exhibition Hall of Suzhou-Jiaxing Railway Ruins Park, which used to be former Japanese aggressors’ barracks. On the display board there is the theme exhibition: “Road of Perseverance: Suzhou-Jiaxing Railway History” that consists four parts: Decline and Fall, Resistance Against Aggression, Demolition, and Revival, and presents the historical records and personal accounts of the Railway since its construction through texts, photographs, artifacts, scene recreations and videos. The sight of it instant transports us back to the war-torn era.

After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the defeated Qing Dynasty proposed the construction of Suzhou-Jiaxing-Hangzhou Railway to revive national fortunes, but the plan was thwarted by foreign interventions.  

After the Japanese-engineered January 28th Incident of 1932 turned Shanghai’s Zhabei District into a battlefield, and important Beijing-Shanghai Railway and Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo Railway were severed, crippling military logistics. After the Battle of Shanghai (1937), the armistice agreement was signed, barring Chinese troops from the east of Shanghai, Suzhou and Kunshan, and paralyzing Shanghai-based mobilizations of troops. Thus, the two railways mentioned above were cut off, and so did military activities.   

For national defense purposes, the Kuomintang government decided to construct the Railway. Survey and design began in the spring of 1934; the groundbreaking ceremony was held on February 22, 1935; and the Railway was put into operation on July 15, 1936. It originated northward at Suzhou Station on the Beijing-Shanghai Railway, passed through Xiangmen, Wujiang, Batuo, Pingwang and Shengze, and then reached Wangjiangjing, from which the Railway turned south to Jiaxing to link the Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo Railway.

“The Railway was constructed remarkably fast, in less than a year and a half from commencement to full operation,” recalled Wang Jinsheng. There was neither large-scale machinery nor advanced construction materials then. Upon learning that this railway was constructed to resist Japanese aggression, local residents enthusiastically supported it. Many people spontaneously joined the construction, who carried baskets of soil on shoulder poles. “Although little trace of the Railway remains today, there are numerous ponds along the original railway bed, bearing witness to the earth excavation during the construction of the Railway,” said Wang.

After its operation, the Railway shortened the Suzhou-to-Jiaxing journey by 110 kilometers compared to the detour through Shanghai. It also allowed north-south freight transport to bypass Shanghai, alleviating Shanghai’s cargo pressure. As a railway both for passengers and freight, the residents along the Railway like those in Wangjiangjing could travel directly by train to major cities such as Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Beiping (now Beijing). This tremendously enhanced the economic development and strategic significance of the regions along the Railway.

“With travel distance and fares halved, this railway became a vital artery between Suzhou and Jiaxing. Textiles, rice, etc. from Wangjiangjing and the regions nearby like Jiashan could be transported directly to Suzhou,” said Wang. During his research, elderly locals told him that at the Railway’s zenith, the platforms were piled high with agricultural products awaiting shipment.

Yet this prosperity proved short-lived. With the full outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the entire areas along the Railway were occupied by the enemy. To support their assault on Nanjing, Japanese forces hastily repaired the war-damaged Railway and placed it under military administration by Japanese railway troops. The Japanese aggressors erected fortifications at Wangjiangjing Railway Station and strategic locations like Bridge No. 76 over the Grand Canal, to monitor the Railway, vessels and people.

“The surviving fortifications and piers of Bridge No. 76 now serve as stark witnesses to this period of history,” said Wang with palpable emotion. Facing Japanese brutality, the anti-Japanese guerrilla forces in Wangjiangjing launched frequent sabotage operations along the Railway in 1938, severely beating the enemy. In a notable act of resistance, Loyal and Righteous Salvation Army destroyed the tracks south of Wangjiangjing Railway Station with landmines, derailing a Japanese military train. As Japanese aggressors planned “Operation Ichigo” to secure continental supply routes, they provoked conflicts in Longyou and Quzhou in western Zhejiang as a diversionary tactic.

In March 1944, the Japanese-puppet Central China Railway Company began dismantling the Railway under military orders, relocating its rails and sleepers to construct Jinhua-Longyou section of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway. By January 1945, the demolition was complete. The Railway vanished in this darkest hour before dawn!  

Witnessing “China Speed” from the construction of Nantong-Suzhou-Jiaxing-Ningbo High-Speed Railway (TSJN Railway) 

At the construction site of the TSJN Railway in Luzhi Town, Suzhou, over 40 kilometers from the Suzhou-Jiaxing Railway Ruins Park, chief engineer Hua Nan from China Railway Tunnel Group’s TSJN Railway Section 2-1 Division is finalizing the latest plan for ultra-shallow soil excavation. His team are preparing for the imminent tunneling of Suzhoudong Tunnel.  

As a vital segment of China’s “eight vertical and eight horizontal” high-speed rail network, the 310-kilometer TSJN Railway links 10 stations in Nantong, Suzhou, Jiaxing and Ningbo. Facing the natural barriers from the Yangtze River and the Hangzhou Bay, the relevant research team have made a decade-long preparation. With technological breakthroughs being made, the Railway has been elevated from a 250 km/h intercity line to a 350 km/h “super railway”. This construction project features China’s first cross-province high-speed rail tunnel and the Hangzhou Bay High-speed Railway Bridge.  

“ ‘China Speed’ will appear as a new legend in the Yangtze River Delta, and the vanished Suzhou-Jiaxing Railway will be reborn,” said 30-year-old Hua Nan, one of the youngest chief engineers from China Railway Engineering Corporation. In January 2025, he was dispatched here to overseen the construction of Fenhu Tunnel, Suzhoudong Tunnel, and a section of Su’nan Grand Bridge.  

The project brings him formidable challenges: How to execute ultra-shallow soil excavation while preventing ground settlement? How to coordinate cross-province operations? How to ensure eco-friendly construction? How to meet tight deadlines?  

Two months ago, his team completed the construction of China’s first cross-province high-speed rail tunnel, i.e., Fenhu Tunnel of the TSJN Railway in over 200 days’ efforts.

“We tunneled under concentrated risk zones such as residential areas, water sources and industrial districts by dynamically monitoring and adjusting the shield machine’s positions in real time. Additionally, we achieved precise reception under an ultra-shallow overburden of just 7.26 meters. This accomplishment signifies that our team’s control technology for segment floating in super-large diameter slurry shield tunneling under ultra-shallow overburden conditions has reached internationally leading levels,” said Hua proudly. To address unique geological conditions of Fenhu Lake, the team customized the shield machine with intelligent features, realizing smart tunneling in the form of “self-decision-making in parameters and self-execution in operations”. Equipped with an advanced slurry separation system, the shield machine saved 228.4 tons of tap water for per meter tunneled, achieving “zero leakage, zero discharge, and zero pollution”.

The series of new technologies and breakthroughs Hua Nan elaborated on are underpinned by China’s vastly enhanced strengths, a far cry from old China of the early 20th century, when the Railway in this very region struggled to survive under oppression. The remarkable rise of China over the past century is vividly embodied here and now.  

Once the Railway nearly lost to the dust of history, ravaged by war, it has been revitalized under the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, a national-level development strategy in the new era. Upon completion, the TSJN Railway will shorten the journey time between Ningbo and Shanghai, and between Ningbo and Suzhou to one hour by train as well as the journey time between Jiaxing and Ningbo, and between Jiaxing and Suzhou to half an hour by train. This project holds significant strategic importance for accelerating the “Rail-based Yangtze River Delta” initiative and promoting high-quality integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta.  

Outside the project department, the canopy linking Suzhoudong Tunnel to Su’nan Grand Bridge rose from the ground, with the arc of mechanical cranes cutting a sharp silhouette against the sunlight. Now the tracks connect not just cities, but also the dreams and confidence of an era.  

A Dialogue between two railways  

Standing beside the tracks at the Suzhou-Jiaxing Railway Ruins Park, the reporter gently touched the bullet scars on weathered fortifications with his fingertips, and almost heard the whistles and gunfire 80 years ago. The Railway, born for the resistance against Japanese aggression and destroyed in the war, once witnessed China’s humiliation and struggles. Now it participates in national rejuvenation in a new form.  

In 1936, the Railway was constructed through citizens’ labor: there was no machinery but people’s determination; there was no advanced technology but patriotic conviction. The ponds dug alongside the tracks of the Railway remain testaments to people’s sacrifice; the bullet holes in the Japanese fortifications tell how this artery became invaders’ tools before vanishing in the war. History’s cruelty and resilience crystallize in these weathered bricks and fragmented rails.  

Now the TSJN Railway is under rapid construction. At the construction site, the intelligent shield tunneling machine and zero-pollution technologies stand in stark contrast to those baskets and bare hands 80 years ago. Strong confidence can be seen from Hua Nan’s eyes when he talks about “world-leading standards” of the Railway. Earth-shaking changes in China’s modernization can be seen from the upgrading of the 74-kilometer-long Suzhou-Jiaxing Railway to a 310-kilometer-long TSJN Railway, and from the upgrading of the several-dozen km/h steam locomotive to a 350 km/h bullet train. The high-speed train is a mark of China’s rapid rise and prosperity.  

The most impressive point lies in the silent dialogue between the two railways. The Suzhou-Jixing Railway constructed to resist Japanese aggressors in the past now flows as the lifeblood of the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta; the tracks of the Railway once dismantled by invaders reincarnate as a world-class project. The station sign of stone at Wangjiangjing Railway Station and the blueprint for the Hangzhou Bay High-speed Railway Bridge narrate the fact that “backwardness invites aggression” and “rejuvenation comes from struggles”.  

As dusk falls at the Suzhou-Jiaxing Railway Ruins Park, the setting sun casts long shadows from the locomotive. Like a key, it links the past of humiliation and resistance to the future of prosperity and confidence, bearing witness to the Chinese people’s driving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation from standing up and growing prosperous to becoming strong.