Abstract: This article mainly introduces the authors’ experience of writing A Critical Biography of WEI Yuan.First,the authors tried to grasp the trend of thought of the times,orienting the character of this biography to certain historical environment;Second,the authors took pains to seek the train of thought changes during the late Qing Dynasty through the character’ life and thought course,so as to bring to light the internal vitality of Chinese traditional culture;Third,the authors took typical characters as the thread of this biography,to combine comments with relations,points with lines,so as to show the logical connections of  the authors’ thought development.

Key words: WEI Yuan, Critical Biography of Chinese Thinker, Trend of Thought in the Late Qing Dynasty