Ding Richang

Ding Richang (丁日昌, Dīng Rìchāng) was a Qing official who served as Shanghai daotai from July 1864 to September 1865 and who was involved in setting up the Jiangnan Arsenal. Li Hongzhang (李鸿章) brought him to Shanghai in 1863 and recommended him as general manager of the Jiangnan Arsenal project.

As daotai he had the Confucian Temple (文庙) repaired and founded the Longmen Academy, according to the Shanghai Concessions Gazetteer. Two decisions fall in June 1865. With the French consul-general, M. Brenier de Montmorant (白来尼, Báiláiní), he agreed to ban all gambling houses in the French Concession. He also secretly instructed the local magistrates to find some way to stop British residents putting up telegraph poles in Pudong.

After leaving Shanghai he rose through the Qing service: Jiangsu governor in 1867, Fujian governor in 1875, and a member of the Zongli Yamen, the foreign-affairs office. At Fuzhou he took over the shipyard after Shen Baozhen. He wrote a collection of official papers, Fu Wu gongdu.