Wei Yuan (1794-1857) – famous scholar, Chinese modern enlightenment thinker from Shaoyang city of Hunan province in the last Qing Dynasty. Wei Yuan was acknowledged as one of the most outstanding intellectuals who saw the world with wide open perspectives in modern China. He put forward multiple innovative ways to better govern the country, such as restructuring the official management, providing opportunities for the public to air views, absorbing foreign investment, revitalizing national industry, promoting talents, opening up the people's mind, strictly forbidding opium and strengthening national defense. In addition, the far-reaching idea of learning from foreigners in order to compete against them was proposed by him along with his old friend, Lin Zexu, who made tremendous contributions to the ban of opium smoking and opium trade. All these have gained him everlasting fame.
Wei Yuan's former residence is located in Longpan Lane 22, and protected by the city as a historical site. It could be easily spotted just by looking for the green-name stone tablet.