HUANG-LAO

[Chinese] A Taoist deity, whose name means "Yellow-old". The name consists of two components: Huang, which refers to Huang-di and lao, referring to Lao-zi. Both men are considered to be the founders of religious Taoism. They have been jointly venerated as Huang-lao since the second century BCE. In the subsequent centuries, however, he developed into another deity, that of Huang-lao-jun, one of the most important deities of early Taoism.