Late-Yuán scholar-official and early-Míng holdover, native of Jīnxī 金谿 (Fǔzhōu 撫州, Jiāngxī). Zì Tàipǔ 太樸; hào Yúnlín 雲林. Yuán jìnshì of Zhìzhèng 1 (1341); served as compiler of the Sòngshǐ 宋史, Liáoshǐ 遼史, and Jīnshǐ 金史 under 脫脫 Tuōtuō in the 1343–45 official-historiography project at the Hànlín; rose to Hànlín xuéshì chéngzhǐ 翰林學士承旨 by the end of the Yuán. On the fall of Dàdū 大都 (1368) reportedly attempted to drown himself in the palace well; was rescued by Míng troops; brought south by Zhū Yuánzhāng 朱元璋 and briefly appointed Hànlín shìjiǎngxuéshì and Tàicháng shǎoqīng. Demoted in the early 1370s under the imputation of èrcháo chén (servant of two dynasties); died in retirement / exile in 1372 in Hézhōu 和州 (Ānhuī).
Wēi was the senior Yuán-trained literatus on the Hóngwǔ court and one of the four great Yuán gǔwén masters of the YúHuángLiǔWēi 虞黃柳危 sequence (with 虞集, 黃溍, 柳貫). His original fifty-juǎn Shuōxuézhāi gǎo 說學齋稿 was lost by the mid-Míng; the four-juǎn recovery KR4e0012 is from a holograph manuscript that Guī Yǒuguāng 歸有光 obtained from a Wú-family bibliophile in Jiājìng 38 (1559). His shorter Yúnlín jí 雲林集 KR4e0013 is a separate small collection. The catalog meta of KR4e0012 / KR4e0013 gives lifedates 1295–1372; this is by convention. CBDB BIOG_MAIN c_personid 28022 and Goodrich & Fang, Dictionary of Ming Biography 2:1465–1467 give 1303–1372 (Dàdé 7 – Hóngwǔ 5), which is followed here.
Standard biography: Míng shǐ j. 285 (Wényuàn zhuàn); Goodrich & Fang 2:1465–1467.