Ding Richang (Chinese: 丁日昌; Wade–Giles: Ting Jih-Ch'ang; 1813–1882) was a government official in Qing dynasty China, who is remembered for his "indomitable" if not "prodigious" reform efforts, skill in foreign diplomacy (or "foreign-matters expert"), and supervision of the judicial administration, engaging in anti-tax abuse directed at the Yamen. Magistrate of Jiangsu, he lost and then regained rank during the Taiping rebellion to become Shanghai intendant before returning to the devastated Jiangsu in 1867 as Finance Commissioner and then Province Governor from 1868-1870. Often compared with famous reformer Zeng Guofan, whose writings Ding became familiar with while serving under a staff advised by him, Ding's lengthy 1868 memorial admits to the hopelessness of effective governance without