Europeans knew this city as Kalgan until the mid-20th century, from a Mongolian word meaning a gate in a barrier; it was the Great Wall gate where camel caravans loaded with tea began their long journey north to Russia.
直到二十世纪中叶,欧洲人仍称这座城市为”喀拉干”,这一名称源自蒙古语中意为”屏障之门”的词汇;这里是长城上的一道关口,满载茶叶的骆驼商队正是从此出发,踏上北往俄罗斯的漫长旅程。
Its Chinese name, Zhangjiakou, traces back to a Ming fortress built there under the official Zhang Wen in 1429. Just outside its Dajingmen gate stood a huge marketplace where Mongols traded furs and horses for Chinese tea, and from the late 17th century the town became the starting point of the Zhangjiakou–Kulun caravan route, the northern leg of the Great Tea Road through Mongolia towards Russia.
它的中文名”张家口”,可追溯至明朝于一四二九年在张文主持下于此修筑的城堡。大境门外曾有一处规模庞大的集市,蒙古人在此以毛皮和马匹换取中国茶叶;自十七世纪末起,这里更成为张库大道的起点,这条商道是万里茶道的北段,穿越蒙古草原,通往俄罗斯。
According to the 1911 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, long lines of camels arrived each early autumn to carry tea chests from Kalgan to Kiakhta, with each caravan usually making three journeys in the winter, and some Russian merchants kept permanent residences and warehouses just outside the gate. The same entry noted that the town’s ordinary houses were mostly roofed with earth that turned green with grass, and that a railway had connected it with Peking in October 1909.
据一九一一年版《大英百科全书》记载,每年初秋,长长的骆驼队从四面八方赶来,将茶叶箱从喀拉干运往恰克图,每支商队冬季通常往返三次;一些俄国商人还在城门外设有长期居所与货栈。同一词条还提到,城中寻常民居大多以泥土覆顶,日久便长出青草;并指出,一九零九年十月,这里已有铁路与北京相连。
Two Railways to Beijing, a Century Apart
相隔一个世纪的两条进京铁路
That railway, built between 1905 and 1909 and 201 kilometres long, was the first in China designed and built by Chinese engineers, under the Yale-educated Zhan Tianyou. According to Xinhua, he finished it two years ahead of schedule, solving the steep gradient near Badaling with a switchback laid out in the shape of the Chinese character for person, so that trains climb the slope by reversing.
这条铁路修建于一九零五年至一九零九年,全长二百零一公里,是中国第一条由中国人自行设计并建造的铁路,总工程师为留学耶鲁大学的詹天佑。据新华社报道,他提前两年完成了这项工程,并以一段形如”人”字的折返线路,解决了八达岭一带的陡坡难题,列车靠来回折返爬升坡度。
The Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway opened on 30 December 2019, running 174 kilometres with ten stations at a design speed of 350 kilometres per hour, and cut the fastest journey between the two cities from 3 hours 7 minutes to 47 minutes. Its intelligent trains were reported at launch as the first high-speed trains in the world capable of automatic operation at 350 kilometres per hour under driver supervision.
京张高铁于二零一九年十二月三十日开通运营,全长一百七十四公里,设十座车站,设计时速三百五十公里,将两地间的最快行程由三小时零七分缩短至四十七分钟。开通时的报道称,其智能动车组是世界上首批能在时速三百五十公里下、于有人值守条件下实现自动运行的高速列车。
The line’s deepest point lies not at Zhangjiakou but in Beijing’s Yanqing district, where Badaling Great Wall station sits 102 metres underground beneath the Great Wall, reported to be the deepest high-speed railway station in the world. China Daily reported that new tunnelling at the old line’s Qinglongqiao station used expansive agents to dig a tunnel only 4 metres beneath it.
这条铁路埋深最大的车站并不在张家口,而是位于北京延庆区的八达岭长城站,它深埋于长城之下一百零二米,据报道是世界上埋深最大的高铁车站。据《中国日报》报道,在老京张线的青龙桥站一带,施工人员采用膨胀剂,在距该站仅四米之下开挖隧道。
Fifty-One Golds and a Grid that Helps Power Beijing
五十一枚金牌,与一张为北京输送绿电的电网
Four venues in the Chongli district of Zhangjiakou, the Snow Ruyi ski jump, the national cross-country and biathlon centres and Genting Snow Park, hosted 51 Olympic gold medals at the 2022 Winter Games, according to the World Union of Olympic Cities; the ski jump was designed to resemble a ruyi, a traditional Chinese talisman. A 53-kilometre branch line opened alongside the main line ends at Taizicheng station in the heart of the competition zone, described in Chinese state media as the first high-speed rail station in the world to lead directly to an Olympic venue.
据世界奥林匹克城市联盟介绍,张家口崇礼区的四座场馆——”雪如意”跳台滑雪中心、国家越野滑雪中心、国家冬季两项中心与云顶滑雪公园——在二零二二年冬奥会上共决出五十一枚金牌;其中跳台滑雪场馆的造型,取意中国传统吉祥物”如意”。与京张高铁同步开通的五十三公里崇礼铁路支线,终点为位于赛区核心区的太子城站,中国官方媒体称其为世界上第一个直通奥运赛场的高铁站。
Every venue at the Games ran on wind and solar electricity generated around Zhangjiakou and delivered through the Zhangbei flexible direct-current grid, a project costing about US$2 billion according to Carbon Brief, which the International Olympic Committee says can transmit electricity equivalent to about 10 percent of Beijing’s consumption.
冬奥会期间,所有场馆使用的均是张家口一带生产的风电与光伏电力,经张北柔性直流电网输送至北京;据碳简报(Carbon Brief)介绍,该工程造价约二十亿美元;国际奥委会表示,该电网每年可输送的电量,相当于北京约百分之十的用电量。
According to the city’s own 2024 statistical communiqué, Zhangjiakou’s GDP reached ¥191.33 billion that year, up 4.6 percent, with per capita output at ¥47,344; the permanent population stood at 4.0326 million, down 17,500 on the year before, with 19,200 births against 36,700 deaths.
据该市二零二四年统计公报显示,当年张家口市GDP达一千九百一十三点三亿元,同比增长百分之四点六,人均产值为四万七千三百四十四元;常住人口为四百零三点二六万人,较上年减少一点七五万人,全年出生人口一点九二万人,死亡人口三点六七万人。
Getting to Zhangjiakou means boarding that line at Beijing North or Qinghe station for a journey that takes as little as 47 minutes; the Olympic branch line continues to Taizicheng in Chongli.
前往张家口,可在北京北站或清河站乘坐京张高铁,最快仅需四十七分钟;冬奥支线则延伸至崇礼区的太子城站。
Isaac Asimov later used the old name Kalgan for a planet in his Foundation novels.
后来,艾萨克·阿西莫夫又将这座城市的旧称”喀拉干”用于《基地》系列小说中的一颗行星。
