The Book of Wei (Chinese: 魏書/魏书; pinyin: Wèishū) is a classic Chinese historical writing compiled by Wei Shou from 551 to 554, and serves as an important historical text describing the Northern Wei and Eastern Wei from 386 to 550.

In compiling the work, Wei Shou was criticized for showing partiality to ancestors of political allies and intentionally defamatory to or entirely ignoring ancestors of political enemies. Detractors of the work referred to the book as 穢書, (Hui Shu), nearly pronounced as 'Wei Shu', but meaning "Book of Filth". From a modern historical view point, the book had glaring problems, as it took glorification of the Northern Wei to an extreme, intentionally misstating history of her predecessor state Dai, which was a vassal of Western Jin, Later Zhao, Former Yan, and Former Qin, but which the book characterized as a powerful empire that those states were vassals of. It further characterized all other rival states as barbaric and made unsubstantiated accusations against their rulers. Further, it retroactively used the sinicized surnames introduced by Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei in 496 to apply to events long before, making it difficult for readers to know what the actual names of historical personages were. In addition, Wei Shou was criticized in that, as an official of the Eastern Wei and its successor state Northern Qi, he included the sole emperor of Eastern Wei, Emperor Xiaojing, among his imperial lists while intentionally omitting the three emperors from the rival state Western Wei after the division of the Northern Wei in 534. However, he was credited with harmonizing highly confusing and fragmented accounts of historical events from the state of Dai to the early period of Northern Wei and creating coherent accounts of events.

Terence James Stannus Gray (14 September 1895 – 5 January 1986), better known by the pen name Wei Wu Wei, was a 20th century Taoist philosopher and writer.

Between the years 1958 and 1974 eight books and articles in various periodicals appeared under the pseudonym "Wei Wu Wei" (Wu wei, a Taoist term which translates as action that is non-action). The identity of the author was not revealed at the time of publication for reasons outlined in the Preface to the first book Fingers Pointing Towards the Moon (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1958). Eventually it was revealed that the author had been Terence Gray. His pseudoname actually means wei wu wei from taoism. Terence James Stannus Gray was born in Felixstowe, Suffolk, England on 14 September 1895, the son of Harold Stannus Gray and a member of a well-established Irish family. He was raised on an estate at the Gog-Magog Hills outside Cambridge, England. He received a thorough education at Ascham St Vincent's School, Eastbourne, Eton and Oxford University. Early in life he pursued an interest in Egyptology which culminated in the publication of two books on ancient Egyptian history and culture in 1923. This was followed by a period of involvement in the arts in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s as a theorist, theatrical producer, creator of radical 'dance-dramas', publisher of several related magazines and author of two related books. He was a major influence on many noted dramatists, poets and dancers of the day, including his cousin Ninette de Valois, founder of the Royal Ballet (which in fact had its origins in his own dance troupe at the Cambridge Festival Theatre which he leased from 1926–33).

Xu Wei (Chinese: 徐渭; pinyin: Xú Wèi; Wade–Giles: Hsü Wei, 1521—1593) was a Ming Chinese painter, poet, writer and dramatist famed for his artistic expressiveness. Revolutionary for its time, his painting style influenced and inspired countless subsequent painters, such as Bada Shanren, the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, and the modern masters Wu Changshuo and Qi Baishi. Qi once exclaimed in a poem that "How I wish to be born 300 years earlier so I could grind ink and prepare paper for Green Vine ( A Xu Wei pen name)" (恨不生三百年前，為青藤磨墨理紙). Xu Wei can be considered as the founder of modern painting in China. His influence continues to exert itself. Despite his posthumous recognition, Xu was manifestly mentally ill and unsuccessful in life, ending his life in poverty after the murder of his third wife and several attempts at suicide.

His style names were Wenqing (文清)and then later Wenchang (文長). His pseudonyms were The Mountain-man of the Heavenly Pond (天池山人 Tiānchí Shānrén), Daoist of the Green Vine House (青藤道士 Qīngténg Dàoshì) and The Water and Moon of the Bureau's Farm (署田水月 Shǔtián Shuǐ Yuè). Born in Shanyin (山阴 - now Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province), Xu was raised by a single mother who died when he was 14. At 21, he married Pan-shi (潘氏), who died five years later. Though he passed the county civil examination at age 20, Xu was never able to pass the provincial civil service examinations, even after attempting it eight times. Nevertheless, Xu was employed by General Hu Zongxian (胡宗憲), Supreme Commander of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Fujian coastal defense against the wokou (倭寇) Japanese pirates.

Wei Zhongxian (Chinese: 魏忠賢) (1568 – October 19, 1627) is considered by most historians as the most powerful and notorious eunuch in Chinese history. Originally a hoodlum^{[citation needed]} and gambler, his initial name was Wei Si (魏四, literally, Wei Fourth). He took the step of becoming a eunuch and entering palace service to escape from his creditors, taking the name Li Jinzhong (李进忠). After entering the palace, he got into the service of Madam Ke (客氏), the wet-nurse of the future Ming emperor. The couple began manipulating the Tianqi Emperor, who renamed him Wei Zhongxian. The emperor's favour later gave Wei absolute power over the court.

Wei persecuted anyone who opposed his decisions, resulting in the death and imprisonment of many officials. He later proclaimed himself to be Nine-Thousand Years (九千歲) which meant that he was symbolically the second most important person in the country, just after the emperor, who is called the Ten-Thousand Years (萬歲). Wei also built many shrines (生祠) and erected god-like statues of himself in them. In 1627, his control of the court ended with the death of the Tianqi Emperor, whose brother and successor promptly eliminated him. He was forced to commit suicide (some sources say executed by strangulation) and his corpse was disembowelled.

Shi Pu (時溥) (d. May 9, 893), formally the Prince of Julu (鉅鹿王), was a warlord of the late Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty, who controlled Ganhua Circuit (感化, headquartered in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu) as its military governor (Jiedushi). He was eventually defeated by Zhu Quanzhong's general Pang Shigu (龐師古), and committed suicide with his family.

It is not known when Shi Pu was born, but it is known that he was from Pengcheng and served as an officer at Xu Prefecture (whose seat was at Pengcheng). Both he and fellow officer Chen Fan (陳璠) were favored by Zhi Xiang (支詳) the military governor (Jiedushi) of Ganhua Circuit (感化, headquartered at Xu Prefecture).

In 881, after the agrarian rebel Huang Chao captured the imperial capital Chang'an, forcing then-ruling Emperor Xizong to flee, Zhi sent Shi and Chen with an army to try to aid the emperor. When Shi reached the eastern capital Luoyang, however, he claimed to receive an order from Zhi to withdraw, and after rendezvous with Chen, they slaughtered Heyin (河陰, in modern Luoyang) and pillaged Zheng Prefecture (鄭州, in modern Zhengzhou, Henan) before returning to Xu Prefecture. Zhi tried to placate them by treating them and their soldiers well, but Shi had his trusted soldiers meet with Zhi and threaten him, forcing him to yield the command to Shi, who took the title of acting military governor. Chen tried to persuade Shi to kill Zhi, pointing out that Zhi had treated the people of the circuit well and might be able to return to power. Shi refused, and instead had Zhi escorted to Emperor Xizong's then-location at Chengdu. On the way, however, Chen laid an ambush for Zhi and slaughtered his family. Subsequently, Emperor Xizong confirmed Shi as acting military governor and, later in the year, full military governor. (Shi made Chen the prefect of Su Prefecture (宿州, in modern Suzhou, Anhui), but had him executed when he proved to be violent and corrupt as prefect.)