 His grandfather Wu Jing'an () was a commandery governor during preceding Southern Qi.His family was from Qin Commandery (秦郡, roughly the part of modern Nanjing, Jiangsu, north of the Yangtze River).Despite the fact that Wu Jing'an was a general, the family was not wealthy, and when Wu Jing'an died in 525 when Wu Mingche was 13, it was said that the family could not afford a proper burial.