Former Site of GeBi LinPing Railway Company

On the edge of Jin Lake in Gejiu, the blue stone-paved walls of the former GeBi LinPing Railway Company headquarters stand in quiet defiance of colonial expansion. In 1912, local tin merchants Chen Juntian, Li Guanghan, and Zhu Chaojin petitioned Yunnan Governor Cai E to build an independent railway. They wanted to protect Gejiu's rich tin resources from French monopolization. This effort produced China's only private, 600-millimeter narrow-gauge railway.

Construction began in May 1915. French engineer Niforise designed the headquarters, blending Chinese masonry with French colonial architecture. Today, visitors can touch the cool, green-painted window frames and walk across the smooth European floor tiles. The classical wooden staircases still creak underfoot, leading to rooms designed for natural ventilation. Outside, the main archway bears the company's winged-wheel logo, carved alongside traditional Chinese characters.

The adjacent train station, built in 1921, rises ten meters high. It once featured a red tiled roof, which workers replaced with a flat cement roof in 1991. In the courtyard, a twenty-meter-long stone platform remains intact. Beside it sits a segment of the narrow-gauge track, a rusted iron water crane once used to fill steam locomotives, and original signal lamps.

This 177-kilometer line was completed in 1936. It operated for decades, carrying heavy loads of refined tin to the global market. The slow-speed network eventually became obsolete. Gejiu Station ended passenger services in 1988, halted cargo operations in 1990, and closed permanently in 1991.

The local government initiated a two-phase restoration project in late 2025 to preserve the station and platforms as a railway history exhibition hall. Currently, the headquarters serves as a restaurant, housing a public exhibition of historical documents and equipment. Outside, the old lakeside tracks have become a pedestrian greenway and a food street. The preserved structures remain as physical records of local sovereignty and early industrial ambition.