author
Alexander Michie
1833–1902
Drawn by travel, trade, and politics in nineteenth-century China, this Scottish writer turned firsthand experience into vivid books about empire, diplomacy, and daily life. His work carries the perspective of someone who knew the treaty ports from the inside.
3 Audiobooks
About the author
Born in Earlsferry, Fife, in 1833, Alexander Michie spent much of his adult life in China and became known as a writer, editor, and businessman. He was active in British Hong Kong and Qing China, worked in the China trade, and was also connected with Jardine Matheson and the English-language newspaper The Chinese Times in Tientsin.
Michie is especially remembered for writing about the world he saw around him. His 1864 travel book about an overland journey from Peking to Saint Petersburg brought him early notice, and he later wrote on the British presence in China and on Christian missionary activity there. That mix of travel writing, political observation, and on-the-ground reporting gives his books their lasting interest.
He died in 1902. Today, he is mainly read by people curious about nineteenth-century China, the treaty-port world, and the ways British observers tried to explain Asia to readers back home.