Huang-Lao
Huang-Lao (黃老, simplified Chinese: 黄老; Huáng-Lǎo) is the name used for an early Han intellectual and political tradition associated with the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) and Laozi. It brought together texts, techniques, and ideas under the authority of these two figures.[1]
Name
The name joins Huang (黃), shorthand for the Yellow Emperor, and Lao (老), shorthand for Laozi. It is a later classificatory term for traditions and texts associated with both names.[1]
Texts and early Han context
The Mawangdui silk manuscripts include two versions of the Laozi and texts commonly identified with the Huangdi sijing, or Four Classics of the Yellow Emperor. Their discovery has been central to modern study of Huang-Lao.[1]
Huang-Lao is often discussed alongside early Han approaches to governance, cosmology, and cultivation. Its contents and boundaries remain matters of scholarly interpretation.[1]
Relation to the text
Huang-Lao forms part of the early reception history of the Tao Te Ching and is distinct from later Daoist commentarial and religious traditions.[2]