604 BC - 600 BC
Lao Tzu ( or ), also rendered as Laozi (UK: ; US: ; Chinese: 老子, Mandarin: [làu̯.tsɨ]; commonly translated as "Old Master") and Lao-Tze (), was an ancient Chinese philosopher and writer. He is the reputed author of the Tao Te Ching, the founder of philosophical Taoism, and a deity in religious Taoism and traditional Chinese religions. A semi-legendary figure, Lao Tzu was usually portrayed as a 6th-century BC contemporary of Confucius, but some modern historians consider him to have lived during the Warring States period of the 4th century BC. A central figure in Chinese culture, Laozi is claimed by both the emperors of the Tang dynasty and modern people of the Li surname as a founder of their lineage. Read more on Wikipedia
Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Laozi has received more than 3,039,794 page views. His biography is available in 137 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 134 in 2019). Laozi is the 32nd most popular philosopher (down from 28th in 2019), the 5th most popular biography from China and the 2nd most popular Chinese Philosopher.
Laozi is most famous for being the founder of Daoism.
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Historical Popularity Index (HPI)
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Among philosophers, Laozi ranks 32 out of 1,089. Before him are Seneca the Younger, Friedrich Engels, Averroes, Democritus, Diogenes, and David Hume. After him are Martin Heidegger, Søren Kierkegaard, Auguste Comte, Sun Tzu, Plutarch, and Al-Ghazali.
4 BC - 65
HPI: 87.37
Rank: 26
1820 - 1895
HPI: 87.10
Rank: 27
1126 - 1198
HPI: 86.62
Rank: 28
460 BC - 360 BC
HPI: 86.38
Rank: 29
404 BC - 322 BC
HPI: 86.10
Rank: 30
1711 - 1776
HPI: 86.05
Rank: 31
604 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 86.03
Rank: 32
1889 - 1976
HPI: 86.01
Rank: 33
1813 - 1855
HPI: 85.75
Rank: 34
1798 - 1857
HPI: 85.46
Rank: 35
543 BC - 495 BC
HPI: 85.45
Rank: 36
46 - 127
HPI: 85.27
Rank: 37
1058 - 1111
HPI: 85.22
Rank: 38
Among people born in 604 BC, Laozi ranks 1. Among people deceased in 600 BC, Laozi ranks 1. After him are Daniel, Draco, Tomyris, Belshazzar, Astyages, Maya, Epimenides, Phalaris, Theano, Anacharsis, and Ibycus.
604 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 86.03
Rank: 1
690 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 83.04
Rank: 2
650 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 79.77
Rank: 3
600 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 79.73
Rank: 4
600 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 77.99
Rank: 5
700 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 76.43
Rank: 6
600 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 75.73
Rank: 7
690 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 74.56
Rank: 8
700 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 72.32
Rank: 9
600 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 72.15
Rank: 10
700 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 71.24
Rank: 11
600 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 70.67
Rank: 12
Among people born in China, Laozi ranks 5 out of 1,186. Before him are Confucius (-551), Mao Zedong (1893), Huang Xianfan (1899), and Qin Shi Huang (-258). After him are Sun Tzu (-543), 14th Dalai Lama (1935), Zheng He (1387), Chiang Kai-shek (1887), Sima Qian (-145), Deng Xiaoping (1904), and Sun Yat-sen (1866).
551 BC - 479 BC
HPI: 93.64
Rank: 1
1893 - 1976
HPI: 89.64
Rank: 2
1899 - 1982
HPI: 88.19
Rank: 3
258 BC - 210 BC
HPI: 88.05
Rank: 4
604 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 86.03
Rank: 5
543 BC - 495 BC
HPI: 85.45
Rank: 6
1935 - Present
HPI: 85.27
Rank: 7
1387 - 1433
HPI: 85.13
Rank: 8
1887 - 1975
HPI: 84.65
Rank: 9
145 BC - 86 BC
HPI: 84.26
Rank: 10
1904 - 1997
HPI: 84.13
Rank: 11
1866 - 1925
HPI: 84.12
Rank: 12
Among philosophers born in China, Laozi ranks 2. Before him are Confucius (-551). After him are Sun Tzu (-543), Mencius (-372), Zhuang Zhou (-369), Zhu Xi (1130), Mozi (-470), Padmasambhava (717), Han Fei (-280), Xun Kuang (-313), Milarepa (1052), and Shen Kuo (1031).
551 BC - 479 BC
HPI: 93.64
Rank: 1
604 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 86.03
Rank: 2
543 BC - 495 BC
HPI: 85.45
Rank: 3
372 BC - 289 BC
HPI: 80.97
Rank: 4
369 BC - 286 BC
HPI: 80.13
Rank: 5
1130 - 1200
HPI: 79.19
Rank: 6
470 BC - 391 BC
HPI: 79.10
Rank: 7
717 - 762
HPI: 76.80
Rank: 8
280 BC - 232 BC
HPI: 76.35
Rank: 9
313 BC - 238 BC
HPI: 76.11
Rank: 10
1052 - 1135
HPI: 74.01
Rank: 11
1031 - 1095
HPI: 73.40
Rank: 12