Lao Zi or Lao Tzu (unidentified date of birth and death), with the family name as Li, given name as Er and respected name as Dan (commonly translated as “Old Master”), was a native of Kuxian County, Chu State (today's Guoyang County of Anhui Province). He was a thinker who lived in the Spring and Autumn Period and the founder of Taoism.
He is the reputed author of Lao Tzu, also called Tao Te Ching, or The way and its Power, a book of 5,000 characters. Laozi’s theory has exerted a profound influence on the development of Chinese philosophy, politics, literature and art, science, religion, etc. His thoughts have been inherited by Zhuangzi. As a central figure in Chinese traditional culture, Laozi’s philosophy constitutes the core of Chinese traditional ideology and culture together with Confucianism and Buddhism.

（photo/www.bozhou.gov.cn）