He was born in 1889 in Cixi, Zhejiang in late Qing dynasty, and his courtesy name was Yongni (咏霓).

In 1902, he earned the xiucai degree in the Imperial Examination at the age of only 13 He later studied at a French Catholic school in Shanghai.

Invited by Chiang Kai-shek, he served as the first president of the Executive Yuan of Nationalist Government (capital Nanjing) (25 May 1948 – 26 November 1948).

He had four sons, the eldest one named Weng Xinyuan [zh] (翁心源), was a famous petroleum engineer who was killed in the Cultural Revolution, the second oldest one named Weng Xinhan [zh] (翁心翰) was a Chinese Air Force pilot, and veteran of the Battle of Sichuan, who was killed later in the Second Sino-Japanese War/WWII.

Weng Xinzhi [zh] (翁心植), academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, is his nephew.