Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Wei Li
WEI Li 魏禮 (T. 和公, H. 吾廬, 季子), 1629–1695, poet, a native of Ning-tu, Kiangsi, was a younger brother of Wei Hsi and Wei Chi-jui [qq. v.] and, like them, achieved fame as a writer. After 1659 he traveled extensively, from the Great Wall in the north to the Island of Hainan in the south, making friends of distinguished scholars whom he met. His two sons, Wei Shih-hsiao 魏世傚 (T. 昭士, H. 耕廡, b. 1659) and Wei Shih-yen 魏世曦 (T. 敬士, H. 爲谷, b. 1662), and their cousin, Wei Shih-chieh (see under Wei Chi-jui), were together known as the "Three Younger Wei" (小三魏). A third son, Wei Shih-k'an (see under Wei Hsi), was adopted by the latter, Wei Li made the acquaintance of the poet-statesman, Wang Shih-chên [q. v.]. They met at Canton in 1685 when the latter was commissioned to offer sacrifices to the South Seas. The prose and poetic works of Wei Li were assembled, chiefly by his brother, Wei Hsi, in 1671 and were published in 1679 in the San Wei chi (see under Wei Hsi) under the title Wei Chi-tzŭ wên-chi, 16 chüan. Chüan 15 of this work comprises biographical sketches of some fifty eminent men and women of Ning-tu, his native place.
[See bibliography for Wei Hsi, in particular Wei Shu-tzŭ wên-chi 8/81b, 11/72a; Wei-ku wên-kao 8/3b.]