Laozi, a great sage of ancient China, was the author of the Dao De Jing and the founder of Daoism.
According to The Records of the Grand Historian ( ), finished around 91 BCE, Laozi was a contemporary of Confucius (551-479 BCE) to whom the elder Laozi gave lessons about the philosophy of rituals. Laozi worked as the official historian and the keeper of the archives at the imperial court of the Zhou dynasty.

Born in China in 1963, Yang Peng is a scholar of Daoism and Chinese religions and regarded as one of the representatives of Neo-Daoism in China today. He is the author of six books, including A Detailed Explanation of Laozi: Research on Laozi’s Philosophy of Governance and The Origin of Shangdi Worship in China, which have had a wide audience and influence. Yang Peng is now a full-time research scholar at the Harvard University Asia Center.