JANVI TOURS

Guangzhou railway station was built in the ’70s with a typical Soviet-style, covers an area of 26,000 square meters, the railway station still keeps the original construction when it started to be used. The main building has a four-story height, there are green landscapes, a goldfish pool, and a small bridge. Also, there are lots of Caryota palms were planted in the small garden between each waiting room and some bamboos on the back porch. It can be seen that there is a large electric clock with 4.5 meters high and 5 meters wide in the middle of the main building external, as one of the guardians who have witnessed the development of Guangzhou.

The predecessor of Guangzhou railway station was “Dashatou station” which located in the south of Baiyun Road in the Yuexiu District. In history, “Dashatou station” have been called Guangzhou East railway station, Guangzhou station. Dashatou station was built in 1911, while it was the terminal station of the old Guangzhou-Jiulong railway. At that time, it was the largest railway station in Guangzhou and it belongs to the Yuehan railway council. After the birth of new CHINA, the flow of passengers increased yearly, the president of Guangdong province “TaoZhu” suggested that Guangzhou could be constructed as “Asian Paris” in 1950. Therefore, the construction program of building a new Guangzhou railway station was proposed.

According to “The chronicle of Guangdong province·Railway part”, the conception of Guangzhou railway station was born in 1955 initially. In that year, the Guangzhou railway council reported the “Guangzhou Pivot Technical Design Task” to Ministry Railway Department; the report included the idea of developing the Guangzhou railway station in the “Liuhua” area. However, the Ministry railway department considered that other railway stations in Guangzhou were not overload. Hence, the task was disapproved and they only required long-term tasks.

In 1957, while the Wuhan Yangtze river bridge was finished, Beijing-Wuhan railway and Guangzhou-Wuhan railway were merged into Beijing-Guangzhou railway; in 1960 Guangzhou South-west bridge(Now it called Zhujiang bridge) was accomplished, Guangsan railway connected with Jingguang railway and Guangshen railway, the operation substantial increased the passenger volume.

In 1958, under the “Great Leap Forward”, Guangzhou railway council report the task secondly, it was allowed the new passenger depot which located in Liuhua Bridge started to build. Unfortunately, this task was stopped in 1962, as the result of the “Great Leap Forward” which damaged the Chinese economy seriously. One year later, the Guangzhou railway council applied for continuing the task thirdly. Although it was approved five years later, it could not start because of “The Cultural Revolution”. Until 1971, the task was applied finally and it defined as large scale engineering and started in the same year.

KEMING LIN (1900-1999)

One of the most famous Chinese Architects and Educator Keming Lin became the lead engineer in designing the new Guangzhou railway station task. He is a Cantonese who was born in Dongguan. It can be pointed out that he had the special affection and insight of Lingnan Architecture. Therefore, he took advantage of the interior design of Lingnan traditional construction which affords the interior space light and airy At that time, the Chinese recognized “socialist with ethnic style”, Keming provided a perfect program that is fully creative. Due to the traditional Lingnan inside garden design, the inside of the building bright and ventilated: the building face to the south and divided into 5 parts, first-floor promenade, 2,3 and 4 part adopted vertical sunshade board, importantly, this design changed the old ideas that Chinese people thought vertical design symbolized capitalism. A few years later, some cynical opponents question to Keming, he said that everything should be suited for people.

On 12^th April，1974, New Guangzhou railway station put into use, the layout of Guangzhou railway pivot was changed: The new Guangzhou railway station officially named Guangzhou railway station, Dashatou station was named as Guangzhou east railway station. At the same time the passenger business moved to Guangzhou railway station gradually. In 1985, the Guangzhou East station (Dashatou station) was demolished, 12 years later, the traffic department of Guangdong province was built in that former location.