Alexander Michie

Alexander Michie (米契, Mǐqì) was a British marine engineer who founded one of the earliest modern factories east of the Huangpu. In 1856 he started the Pootung Foundry (浦东火轮机厂), which the gazetteer describes as Pudong’s first, and which took shipbuilding work in its first year alongside ironwork, engineering and iron smelting.

He served on the Shanghai Municipal Council in 1862 and again in 1867–68. In 1864, when Newchwang opened as a treaty port, he became the first Briton to live there. In 1869, representing the Shanghai British merchants’ association, he went up the Yangtze from Hankou to Chongqing on a warship to survey trade prospects. The trip is also recorded in the gazetteer entry for Francis Blackwell Forbes, who journeyed up the river that year with him. In 1883 he moved to Tianjin and advised Li Hongzhang, a leading Qing statesman.