His ancestral home was in Fuzhou (now the western part of Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province), and later moved to Nanfeng (now Nanfeng County, Jiangxi). He was born into a family of generations of doctors. His great-grandfather, Wei Yunshan, studied large formula pulse (internal medicine) with Dong Jing, the 25th-generation descendant of Dong Feng. Since then, the medical tradition has not declined for five generations. His uncle, Wei Zimei, specialized in women's diseases, bonesetting, and metal wounds. His father, Wei Biya, studied pediatrics with Zhou Boxi, and then ophthalmology, while also treating tuberculosis. Wei Yilin was studious from a young age and began practicing medicine at the age of 20. In addition to inheriting the family's medical skills, he also studied sores, throat, and oral diseases, achieving comprehensive medical expertise, with the most notable achievements in orthopedics and traumatology. In 1337, he completed the Shiyi Dexiao Fang in 19 volumes. After being reviewed by the Taiyiyuan, it was published in 1345. The achievements in orthopedics and traumatology in

Shiyi Dexiao Fang represent the development level of Chinese orthopedics and traumatology during the Jin and Yuan periods, placing it at the forefront of world medicine at that time.