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Wei Yuan (Chinese:魏源;pinyin:Wèi Yuán; April 23, 1794 – March 26, 1857),^[1] bornWei Yuanda (魏遠達),courtesy namesMoshen (默深) andHanshi (漢士), was a Chinesescholar fromShaoyang, Hunan. He moved toYangzhou,Jiangsu in 1831, where he remained for the rest of his life. Wei obtained the provincial degree (juren) in theImperial examinations and subsequently worked in the secretariat of several statesmen such asLin Zexu. Wei was deeply concerned with the crisis facing China in the early 19th century; while he remained loyal to theQing dynasty, he also sketched a number of proposals for the improvement of the administration of the empire.

From an early age, Wei espoused theNew Text school ofConfucianism and became a vocal member of the statecraft school, which advocated practical learning in opposition to the allegedly barrenevidentiary scholarship as represented by scholars likeDai Zhen. Among other things, Wei advocated sea transport of grain to the capital instead of using theGrand Canal and he also advocated a strengthening of the Qing Empire's frontier defense. In order to alleviate the demographic crisis in China, Wei also spoke in favor of large scale emigration ofHan Chinese intoXinjiang.

Later in his career he became increasingly concerned with the threat from theWestern powers and maritime defense. He wroteA Military History of the Holy Dynasty (《聖武記》,Shèngwǔjì, known at the time as theShêng Wu-ki), the last two chapters of which were translated byEdward Harper Parker as theChinese Account of the Opium War.^[2] Wei also wrote a separate narrative on theFirst Opium War (《道光洋艘征撫記》,Dàoguāng Yángsōu Zhēngfǔ Jì). Today, he is mostly known for his 1844 work,Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms, which contains Western material collected by Lin Zexu during and after theFirst Opium War.^[3] The main principles advocated in the work were later absorbed by the institutional reforms known as theSelf-Strengthening Movement.

British India was suggested as a potential target by Wei Yuan after the Opium War.^[4]

The creation of a government organ for translation was proposed by Wei.^[5]

• Chinese Learning as Substance, Western Learning for Application
• Self-Strengthening Movement

• 1794 births
• 1856 deaths
• Chinese Confucianists
• 19th-century Chinese scholars
• People from Shaoyang
• Historians from Hunan
• Qing dynasty historians
• Chinese social scientists
• Chinese spiritual writers
• 19th-century Chinese philosophers
• Qing dynasty classicists

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