Huanglao

Huang–Lao or Huanglao (simplified Chinese: 黄老; traditional Chinese: 黃老; pinyin: Huáng-Lǎo; Wade–Giles: Huang-Lao; literally: "Yellow [Emperor] Old [Master]") was the most influential Chinese school of thought in the early 2nd-century BCE Han dynasty, having its origins in a broader political-philosophical drive looking for solutions to strengthen the feudal order as depicted in Zhou propaganda. Not systematically explained by historiographer Sima Qian, it is generally interpreted as a school of syncretism, developing into a major religion - the beginnings of the religious Taoism.

Emphasizing the search for immortality, Feng Youlan and Herrlee Creel considered said religious Taoism to be different from if not contradictory to the more philosophical Zhuangzi strain of Taoism. Probably originating together around 300 BCE, the more politically dominant Huang–Lao denoted both for much of the Han. Highly favoured by superstitious rulers, it dominated the intellectual life of the Qin and early Han together with "Chinese Legalism", and the term Taoism (dao-jia) was probably coined with Huang–Lao and Zhuangzi content in mind.

Huang-Lao is a portmanteau word, with Huang referring to the Yellow Emperor () and Lao to Laozi ( "Old Master"). The related Daoist name Huanglao jun (simplified Chinese: 黄老君; traditional Chinese: 黃老君; pinyin: Huánglǎojūn; Wade–Giles: Huang-Lao-Chun; literally: "Yellow Old Lord") was a deification of Laozi as a reincarnated personification of the Dao.

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