People · Shanghai daotai
Xian Ling
咸龄Xiánlíng
Shanghai daotai from 1847 who approved the first foreign lease deed (Dent & Co.) and was dismissed in 1848 after the Qingpu incident.
Xian Ling (咸龄, Xiánlíng) was the Shanghai daotai whose term saw the first formal leasehold deed issued to a foreign firm and ended with the Qingpu incident.
A Manchu, he accompanied imperial commissioner Qiying to the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842 as a fourth-rank guard. In 1843 he was a reserve daotai in Jiangsu involved in foreign affairs, ranked above Gong Muju, and from March 1847 he held the Shanghai post himself.
In December 1847 he approved the lease deed issued to Lancelot Dent, manager of the British firm Dent & Co. (宝顺洋行). The gazetteer records it as the first lease deed (道契) in Shanghai, the start of a numbered series that ran for decades.
In March 1848, missionaries’ trip to Qingpu led to a clash with grain-transport boatmen. British consul Rutherford Alcock threatened to withhold tax payments, and Xian Ling sent officials to help seize those responsible. Viceroy Li Xingyuan judged the handling too slow and removed him in April 1848. He later served in Zhejiang and Jiangsu.
Timeline
Connections
- Dent & Co.宝顺洋行Approved the first lease deed to Dent & Co.'s manager
Sir Rutherford Alcock阿礼国Pressed by British consul Alcock over the Qingpu incident