# Tao Te Ching — Character guide

> Key figures in Tao Te Ching by Laozi.

- [Laozi](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/laozi.md): The Old Philosopher who grew weary of a crumbling dynasty, rode to the western pass, and left behind five thousand characters that outlasted every empire.
- [Chuang Tzŭ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/chuang_tzu.md): A brilliant, irreverent storyteller who took Laozi's spare verses and spun them into wild parables, arguing with Confucius's ghost and mocking the earnest.
- [Confucius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/confucius.md): The earnest moralist who sought Laozi in the royal capital, asked about ceremonies, and walked away comparing the old master to a dragon he could not fathom.
- [Ssŭ - ma Chʽien](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/ssu_ma_chien.md): The Han historian who opened his Biographies with Laozi, preserving the warden, the pass, and the five thousand characters before the legends swallowed them whole.
- [Ho - shang Kung](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/ho_shang_kung.md): The old man of the riverbank whose eighty-one chapter division gave the Tao Te Ching the shape readers have followed for two thousand years.
- [Wang Pi](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/wang_pi.md): The prodigy who died at twenty-four but left a commentary so prized it became the standard text for centuries of readers.
- [Han Fei](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/han_fei.md): Legalist philosopher who wrote about Taoist concepts in his works.
- [Stanislas Julien](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/julien.md): French sinologist who translated the Tao Te Ching into French.
- [Wu Chʽêng](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/wu_cheng.md): Yuan dynasty scholar who wrote a commentary on the Tao Te Ching.
- [Herbert A. Giles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/giles.md): British sinologist and translator of Chinese philosophical texts.
- [F. H. Balfour](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/balfour.md): Western scholar who wrote about Taoist philosophy.
- [Abel - Rémusat](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/abel_remusat.md): French sinologist who studied Chinese philosophy and language.
- [Huai - nan Tzŭ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/huai_nan_tzu.md): Han dynasty prince and patron of Taoist philosophical works.
- [Huang Ti](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/huang_ti.md): Legendary Yellow Emperor, associated with early Taoist mythology.
- [Shang Ti](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/shang_ti.md): Supreme deity in ancient Chinese religion, referenced in Taoist context.
- [Mencius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/mencius.md): Confucian philosopher whose ideas are contrasted with Taoism.
- [Bunyan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/bunyan.md): Author of Pilgrim's Progress, referenced in comparative religious discussion.
- [King Wei of Chʽu](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/wei_of_chu.md): Ruler who invited Chuang Tzŭ to serve as a minister.
- [Matthew Raper](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/tao_te_ching_se/characters/raper.md): Early Western translator of the Tao Te Ching.

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