Qu Wei is an outstanding, far-reaching and respected composer in China. Born in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province in 1917, he loved music since childhood. In 1933, he entered the normal department of Shanghai Xinhua Art College to study music and art. Under the influence of people musicians Nie Er and Xian Xinghai and their works, he embarked on the road of revolutionary music. Qu Wei has been engaged in music work under the leadership of the Party since he joined the China Party in May 1938, and once served as a teacher of Luyi Music Department in Yan 'an. After the founding of New China, he successively served as the executive director of the China Musicians Association, the vice chairman of the China Musicians Association, the vice chairman of the Shanghai Branch of the Chinese Music Association, and the chairman of the Higher Music Education Association.

Qu Wei was sent by the state to the Composition Department of Moscow Conservatory of Music for further study in 1955. After returning to China, he worked as a composer for a long time in Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Qu Wei was engaged in music creation all his life, and he never put down his pen on his deathbed. Over the past decades, he has created a large number of musical works of various genres, including piano music Flower Drum, symphonic poem Monument to the People's Heroes, song Hard Bone of the Working Class, movie music Revolutionary Family and ballet music White-haired Girl. His collaboration with Kyle and Zhang Lu in the opera White-haired Girl is a milestone in China's new opera, which is of epoch-making significance in the history of China's national opera.

In September, 1939, Qu Wei was introduced by revolutionary musician Ren Guang, and went to the National Revolutionary Art College in the Second World War Zone in Yichuan, Shaanxi Province as the director of the music department. In February of the following year, he and composer Kyle went to Yan 'an, the revolutionary holy land. In 1942, he directly listened to Comrade Mao Zedong's Speech at the Yan 'an Forum on Literature and Art, and learned who and how literature and art should serve. In the spring of 1945, together with Kyle, Zhang Lu, Xiang Yu and Huan Zhi, he created the opera "White-haired Girl" for Lu Yi, which is an epoch-making opera in the history of Chinese new opera and a milestone in Chinese opera creation. The play was performed for more than 3 times in Yan 'an, and the response was extremely strong, which greatly inspired the fighting spirit of the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians. Comrade Qu Wei devoted a lot of efforts from his participation in the creation of the opera "White-haired Girl" to the adaptation of it into a film and ballet of the same name after liberation. After the founding of New China, Qu Wei became the head of the composition group of the Central News Film Studio and the teacher of the composition training class of the Central Film Bureau in June 1952. In September 1955, as a national special elective student, he was sent to the Composition Department of Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music in Moscow to study composition, polyphony and orchestration. In September 1959, he returned to Shanghai after graduation and became a resident composer of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

It is a vivid portrayal of Qu Wei to dedicate his life to the Party, the people and music. He has been attached to music since childhood, and he has never put down his pen for music. Influenced by Nie Er when he was young, he embarked on the revolutionary road and worked hard. During his music creation career of 6 or 7 years, he wrote many works of various genres, which dramatically enriched the treasure house of modern music creation in China and provided colorful music products for the party and the people.

While teaching in Luyi, Yan 'an, Qu Wei not only trained musicians needed by the revolution for the Party, but also composed the piano music Mongolian Nocturne. During his study in Moscow, he composed string quartets in G major, piano overtures, variations and other works. He also spent several years, combined with the history of China people's struggle for light, the revolutionary cause under the leadership of the Party, and his own personal experience. He was full of memory and praise for the martyrs and mobilized all the techniques and means he had mastered. In 1963, he wrote a well-known symphony poem Monument to the People's Heroes, which became one of his representative works. Later, Lin Kechang, a Chinese conductor, directed the Nagoya Symphony Orchestra to make records in Hong Kong and distribute them all over the world.