Pei Wei (267–300), courtesy name Yimin, was a Chinese essayist, philosopher, physician, and politician of the Western Jin dynasty. He was the cousin of Jia Nanfeng and rose to prominence during the reign of her husband, the Emperor Hui of Jin. Pei Wei was seen by traditional historian as one of Empress Jia's exemplary supporters along with Zhang Hua and Jia Mo. He pushed for a number of significant reforms during his tenure which met with mixed success before his execution by the Prince of Zhao, Sima Lun, in 300 following Sima Lun's coup.
Pei Wei placed great importance in conventional Confucianist teachings, and was taken aback by the growing popularity of Xuanxue in the court during the 290s. His essay, the Chongyoulun (崇有論), was a response to the works of He Yan and Wang Bi, particularly on their idea that the universe emerged from the concept of "non-being" (wu, 無).
Life
Early life and career
Pei Wei was born into the famous Pei clan of Hedong Commandery as the son of the Cao Wei and later Jin minister, Pei Xiu. Through his mother, Pei Wei was also the nephew of Jia Chong's spouse, Guo Huai, thus making him a relative of Chong and his immediate family. He was very popular even at a young age for his insightfulness and personality. After Pei Xiu died in 271, Pei Wei was ordered to succeed his father's peerage, the Duke of Julu Commandery. Pei Wei politely declined, but the court insisted that he accepted it.
In 281, he was appointed the zhongshuzi to the Crown Prince and Cavalier In Regular Attendance. He also married Wang Rong's daughter around this time. Emperor Wu of Jin died in 290 and was succeeded by his developmentally disabled son, Emperor Hui. That year, Pei Wei was made Principal of the Imperial University and General of the Army of the Right.
During Empress Jia's regency
Emperor Hui's wife was Jia Chong's daughter, Jia Nanfeng. In 291, she launched a coup against her husband's regent, Yang Jun. Yang Jun and his partisans were caught by surprise and were disarrayed. One of his partisans, Liu Yu (劉豫) was coming to Yang Jun's aid when he encountered Pei Wei. Liu Yu asked Pei if he had seen Yang Jun, to which Pei lied to him and said, "I saw his carriage pass out through the Xiye Gate (西掖門), so I sent two men to follow him west." Liu Yu further asked him what he should do next, and Pei Wei told him to meet the Minister of Justice. After Liu Yu left, an edict was made giving Pei Wei Liu Yu's positions, and he later camped himself at Wanchun Gate. After a series of events, Yang Jun was arrested and executed by Empress Jia.
That same year, Empress Jia betrayed her ally, the Prince of Chu, Sima Wei and had him executed as well. As Empress Jia consolidated her control over the government, she and her nephew Jia Mi wondered if they should get rid of the minister, Zhang Hua as well. While they acknowledged that he posed no threat and was very talented, they were still undecided, so they consulted Pei Wei's advice. Empress Jia decided to leave Zhang Hua alone after Pei Wei agreed with their assessment. After this, Pei Wei was appointed a Palace Attendant.
During Pei Wei's time in office, he presented an edict calling for the strengthening of scholarly education and for Confucian Classics to be engraved on stone slabs. The Crown Prince, Sima Yu, was also lectured on how to properly carry out offerings for Confucius and rites for different events. In 293, Pei Wei ordered the son of Xun Xu (who died in 289), Xun Fan, to complete his father's task of restoring the bells and sounding-stones to be used in suburban temples and during court meetings in order to complete the institutional order of rites and music. Pei Wei also attempted to reform the Chinese measuring system, more particularly in the medical field, although his proposal for this was rejected.
Pei Wei knew of Empress Jia's disdain for Sima Yu, who was not the Empress's biological son. To protect him, Pei Wei presented a petition asking to raise the title of Sima Yu's biological mother, Consort Xie Jiu (謝玖). He also asked to have the guards in the Eastern Palace to be increased to 10,000 strong. Pei Wei was transferred to the Masters of Writing, retaining his position as Palace Attendant. He was also appointed as Household Counsellor. Whenever Pei Wei was given a new position, he would always decline, sometimes having to submit more than ten memorials to explain himself in order to prevent offending anyone.