Tian Hongqi

Tian Hongqi (Chinese: 田红旗; pinyin: Tián Hóngqí; born December 11, 1959) is a Chinese engineer, academic administrator, and politician. She is a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a professor specializing in rail transit engineering, with a long career in research and teaching in aerodynamics and vehicle dynamics for railway systems. She currently serves as a Standing Committee member of the 14th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, Vice Chairperson of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, and Chairperson of the Hunan Association for Science and Technology.^[1]

Tian was born in Lushan County, Pingdingshan. She began her higher education in March 1978 at Changsha Railway Institute, where she studied railway vehicle engineering and earned a bachelor’s degree in December 1981. After entering the workforce in January 1982, she remained at Changsha Railway Institute, progressing from assistant lecturer to full professor. During this period, she completed a master’s degree in locomotive and rolling stock engineering in 1988 and later pursued doctoral studies in fluid mechanics at the China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center, where she earned a PhD in engineering in 1999.^[2]

Following the merger that formed Central South University, Tian joined its faculty and served as Vice Dean of the School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering from 2000 to 2008. She was later appointed Assistant President of the university and subsequently Vice President, while continuing her academic work as a professor. Between 2005 and 2010, she was selected as a Changjiang Scholar Distinguished Professor by the Ministry of Education.^[3]

In 2015, Tian was elected a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. She subsequently served as Vice President of the academy from 2016 to 2017. From 2017 to 2022, she was President of Central South University, after which she returned to full-time academic work as a professor while continuing her service as a Vice Chairperson of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang.^[4][5][6]

Alongside her academic career, Tian joined the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang in November 2011 and has since held a series of senior leadership positions within the party, including Vice Chairperson of its 13th and 14th Central Committees.^[7] At the national level, she has served as a member of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress and as a member of its Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee. She has also been a member of the 11th, 12th, and 14th CPPCC National Committees, and a Standing Committee member of the 14th CPPCC.^[8]

Tian is regarded as a pioneer in China’s research on railway aerodynamics and train crash dynamics. She led the development of China’s first high-speed train aerodynamic configuration and the first crashworthy energy-absorbing train design. She also directed the construction of the world’s only wind monitoring and early-warning command system for the Qinghai–Tibet Railway, the world’s first 500 km/h train aerodynamic moving-model test system, and the first full-scale rail vehicle impact testing and instantaneous force measurement system.^[9] Her research has been widely applied to China’s high-speed rail network, including the Fuxing series, plateau and cold-region railways, and overseas railway projects such as the Jakarta–Bandung high-speed railway.^[10]

By October 2021, Tian had received six of China’s National Science and Technology Awards, including two Grand Prizes of the State Science and Technology Progress Award, one First-Class State Science and Technology Progress Award, one Second-Class State Technological Invention Award, and two Second-Class State Science and Technology Progress Awards.^[11][12]