Wei (rank)

"Shao Wei" redirects here. For the American poet, see Shao Wei (poet).

Wei (Chinese: 尉) is the rank held by company-grade officers in the militaries of China and Taiwan. It currently exists in three grades, shao wei (少尉), zhong wei (中尉) (chung wei using Wade–Giles), and shang wei (上尉). An additional grade, da wei (大尉), formerly existed in the Chinese military (PLA) from 1955 to 1965. However, when the use of rank and insignia was restored in 1988, this rank was not re-established. As opposed to the Western tradition of using different names for equivalent ranks in the army and navy, the Chinese armed forces use the same rank names for all services, prefixed in the case of the PLA by hai jun (海军, naval force) or kong jun (空军, air force).

Rank	Literal translation	Army translation	Navy translation	Chinese army insignia	Chinese navy insignia	Chinese air force insignia	Taiwanese army insignia	NATO rank equivalent
Da wei (大尉)	Grand officer	Senior captain	Captain lieutenant				N/A	OF-2
Shang wei (上尉)	Senior officer	Captain	Lieutenant
Zhong wei (中尉) (chung wei)	Middle officer	First lieutenant	Sub lieutenant					OF-1
Shao wei (少尉)	Junior officer	Second lieutenant	Ensign

See also

• Xiao (rank)
• Ranks of the People's Liberation Army
• Ranks of the People's Liberation Army Navy
• Ranks of the People's Liberation Army Air Force
• Republic of China Armed Forces rank insignia