Traditional accounts

The earliest biographical reference to Laozi is found in the 1st-century BC Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian. Multiple accounts of Laozi's biography are presented, with Sima Qian expressing various levels of doubt in his sources.

In one account, Sima Qian reports that Laozi was said to be a contemporary of Confucius during the 6th or 5th centuryBC. His personal name was Er or Dan. He was born

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