In the early stages of the Cultural Revolution he was politically disgraced and performed manual labour, but regained favour in 1970 and became the head of the revolutionary committee of the factory he worked at.

Wei was then transferred to work at the All-China Federation of Trade Unions where he served on the organization's Secretariat.

While serving at the ministry Wei played an important role in developing China's civil servant supervision programs as well as rules and regulations on the discipline of government officials.

[4] In the wake of Chen's disgrace Wei himself took over at Beijing party chief and stayed in the position for two years.

At the 15th Party Congress held in 1997, Wei earned a seat on the elite seven-man Politburo Standing Committee and continued to serve as CCDI Secretary.