Abstract: The history of Chinese railways has long been of interest to the academic community as it serves as a microcosm of the nation’s journey toward great rejuvenation. CiteSpace software has the advantages of quantitative assessment and visual presentation, enabling a systematic review of the research patterns in Chinese railway history and a dynamic revelation of the evolution of research hotspots. This provides useful references for further deepening and expanding research in the field. From 1998 to 2023, Chinese railway history research has gone through three stages of development. The research hotspots have concentrated on railway rights history research based on the Baolu (Railway Protection) Movement, the history of important figures and their relationship with railways, the history of modern railway foreign debts, and the research on railways and social and economic changes. Chinese railway history research has undergone three shifts; further deepening of research requires fully exploring academic hotspots and strengthening research on major theoretical and practical issues in Chinese railway history, expanding the research time frame and perspective to enrich Chinese railway history research, and strengthening exchanges and cooperation and conducting interdisciplinary research.

Key Words: Railway; Chinese railway history; Visual analysis; Knowledge graph; Cite Space