and for the adaptation of western policies following the Qing's defeat in the First Opium War. Wei viewed the war as a signal that the Qing was significantly underdeveloped in comparison to western powers, prompting his advocacy for innovation and learning from the west to allow the Qing to catch up to the west technologically and militarily.

Wei was born in 1794 in Shaoyang, Hunan. Having passed the provincial imperial examination