Lan Weiwen

Lan Weiwen (蓝蔚雯, Lán Wèiwén) was an acting Shanghai daotai whose 1855 agreement with the British, American and French consuls set the terms on which Chinese residents lived inside the foreign settlement.

From Dinghai in Zhejiang, he became sea-defence subprefect of Songjiang in 1849 and, in August 1854, succeeded Wu Jianzhang as acting daotai. By then the Small Swords uprising had driven large numbers of Chinese into the settlement. In February 1855 he and the three consuls agreed rules for Chinese renting land and houses there.

Under them, Chinese residents needed approval from the foreign consul and the local official, had to abide by the newly revised Land Regulations, and paid taxes to the Municipal Council. The gazetteer reads this as effectively accepting the Council’s authority over Chinese inhabitants of the settlement.

He served as acting prefect of Songjiang from April 1855 and acted again as daotai at the end of the year. He died in 1857.