604 BC - 600 BC
Laozi (, Chinese: 老子), also known by numerous other names, was a semilegendary ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher. Laozi is a Chinese honorific, generally translated as "the Old Master". Traditional accounts say he was born as Li Er in the state of Chu in the 6th century BC during China's Spring and Autumn Period, served as the royal archivist for the Zhou court at Wangcheng (modern Luoyang), met and impressed Confucius on one occasion, and composed the Tao Te Ching before retiring into the western wilderness. Read more on Wikipedia
Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Laozi has received more than 4,318,302 page views. His biography is available in 141 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 137 in 2019). Laozi is the 36th most popular philosopher (down from 32nd 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)
Languages Editions (L)
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Among philosophers, Laozi ranks 36 out of 1,081. Before him are Parmenides, Baruch Spinoza, Martin Heidegger, Anaximander, Al-Ghazali, and Diogenes. After him are David Hume, Søren Kierkegaard, Protagoras, Thomas More, Maria Montessori, and Sun Tzu.
501 BC - 470 BC
HPI: 82.29
Rank: 30
1632 - 1677
HPI: 82.22
Rank: 31
1889 - 1976
HPI: 81.59
Rank: 32
610 BC - 546 BC
HPI: 81.49
Rank: 33
1058 - 1111
HPI: 81.46
Rank: 34
404 BC - 322 BC
HPI: 81.46
Rank: 35
604 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 81.11
Rank: 36
1711 - 1776
HPI: 81.09
Rank: 37
1813 - 1855
HPI: 81.07
Rank: 38
486 BC - 420 BC
HPI: 80.89
Rank: 39
1478 - 1535
HPI: 80.66
Rank: 40
1870 - 1952
HPI: 80.58
Rank: 41
544 BC - 496 BC
HPI: 80.47
Rank: 42
Among people born in 604 BC, Laozi ranks 1. Among people deceased in 600 BC, Laozi ranks 1. After him are Daniel, Tomyris, Draco, Belshazzar, Habakkuk, Astyages, Maya, Epimenides, Theano, Anacharsis, and Phalaris.
604 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 81.11
Rank: 1
690 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 78.60
Rank: 2
600 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 77.64
Rank: 3
650 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 74.32
Rank: 4
600 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 71.37
Rank: 5
626 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 71.07
Rank: 6
700 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 69.66
Rank: 7
600 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 69.19
Rank: 8
690 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 66.40
Rank: 9
600 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 66.01
Rank: 10
700 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 64.32
Rank: 11
700 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 64.01
Rank: 12
Among people born in China, Laozi ranks 5 out of 1,392. Before him are Confucius (-551), Mao Zedong (1893), Qin Shi Huang (-258), and Huang Xianfan (1899). After him are Sun Tzu (-544), Zheng He (1387), 14th Dalai Lama (1935), Deng Xiaoping (1904), Sun Yat-sen (1866), Kublai Khan (1215), and Sima Qian (-145).
551 BC - 479 BC
HPI: 91.76
Rank: 1
1893 - 1976
HPI: 85.88
Rank: 2
258 BC - 210 BC
HPI: 85.17
Rank: 3
1899 - 1982
HPI: 82.93
Rank: 4
604 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 81.11
Rank: 5
544 BC - 496 BC
HPI: 80.47
Rank: 6
1387 - 1433
HPI: 80.31
Rank: 7
1935 - Present
HPI: 79.98
Rank: 8
1904 - 1997
HPI: 79.44
Rank: 9
1866 - 1925
HPI: 79.18
Rank: 10
1215 - 1294
HPI: 78.17
Rank: 11
145 BC - 86 BC
HPI: 77.97
Rank: 12
Among philosophers born in China, Laozi ranks 2. Before him are Confucius (-551). After him are Sun Tzu (-544), Mencius (-372), Zhuang Zhou (-369), Mozi (-470), Zhu Xi (1130), Han Fei (-280), Xun Kuang (-313), Milarepa (1052), Shen Kuo (1031), and Wang Yangming (1472).
551 BC - 479 BC
HPI: 91.76
Rank: 1
604 BC - 600 BC
HPI: 81.11
Rank: 2
544 BC - 496 BC
HPI: 80.47
Rank: 3
372 BC - 289 BC
HPI: 74.23
Rank: 4
369 BC - 286 BC
HPI: 74.19
Rank: 5
470 BC - 391 BC
HPI: 72.06
Rank: 6
1130 - 1200
HPI: 71.43
Rank: 7
280 BC - 232 BC
HPI: 69.21
Rank: 8
313 BC - 238 BC
HPI: 68.48
Rank: 9
1052 - 1135
HPI: 67.17
Rank: 10
1031 - 1095
HPI: 66.50
Rank: 11
1472 - 1529
HPI: 62.45
Rank: 12