Zhen Wei is an author about whom very little is publicly known; his place of origin, dates of birth and death, and personal experiences are not clearly recorded. What can be confirmed is that two works are attributed to him, Romance of the Two Han Dynasties and Romance of the Eastern and Western Han Dynasties. Both draw on the rise and fall of the Han dynasties and the figures of that era, belonging to the tradition of popular historical romance that builds on historical events while elaborating and dramatizing them; they are commonly classified under classical literature. In terms of subject matter, Zhen Wei's writing follows the thread of historical records and emphasizes coherent plots and readability, organizing complex historical events into narratives accessible to ordinary readers. Works of this kind helped popularize history and sustain the tradition of storytelling about the past. Because verifiable material is so scarce, his place in literary history is difficult to assess in detail, and readers and scholars currently know him mainly through these two romances.
