A PhD in Literature, guqinist, qin theorist, scholar of the Shuguang (Dawn) Program of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, Pujiang Talent of the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission, and Shanghai Literary Talent of the Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation. Dai Wei is now an associate professor, head of the Chinese Music History Teaching and Research Room, and thesis adviser for graduate students in Ancient Chinese Music History and Modern Music History, in the Department of Music of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (SCOM), where she once served as an associate professor in guqin at the Department of Traditional Chinese Instruments. She is also a council member of the Chinese Music History Association, director of the Professional Guqin Committee of the Chinese Kunqu (Opera) Guqin Association, life member of the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM), and member of the Shanghai Music Association, the Shanghai Film Association, and the Jinyu Qin Society.
A student of guqin masters like Gong Yi, Zhang Ziqian, Lin Youren, and Wu Zhaoji, Dai Wei has been teaching and studying Chinese music history and theories in guqin music since she was on SCOM’s staff. She became a visiting scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2012, when she gave solo recitals, besides guqin music lectures and performances at the University of California, Berkeley and UCLA. In 2015, she held ‘Dreamy Melody – Dai Wei Guqin Recital’ at the Shanghai Concert Hall, also arranging and hosting ‘The 2015 Sixth Academic Music Season & Guqin Music Lecture Series of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music’. Moreover, she arranged and hosted activities and special concerts marking the 70th and 80th anniversaries of Jinyu Qin Society in 2006 and 2016, respectively.
Dai Wei has published a thesis “Research on the Manuscript of Quqin Piece ‘Jieshi Diao Youlan’ (Solitary Orchid)” and a book A Brief History of Chinese Music, having also released a guqin album The Essence Captured.