Daoism and Huang-Lao in the ‘Shiji’

Abstract

This article examines the nature of Early Han Daoism and the Huang-Lao doctrine as presented in the ‘Shiji’, the earliest official dynastic history of China. The position of Huang-Lao within the intellectual landscape of early imperial China remains one of the most debated issues in the historiography of ancient Chinese philosophy. Although most scholars acknowledge the significant influence of Daoist ideas, there is still no widely accepted definition of what Huang-Lao was and to which intellectual tradition it should be attributed. To address this problem, the article analyzes the motives behind the ‘Shiji’ authors’ introduction of the neologisms ‘daojia’ and Huang-Lao, their interrelationship, and their original semantic scope.

The study challenges the conventional historiographical model of the ‘six schools’, which is based on an anachronistic interpretation of the term ‘jia’ in Sima Tan’s famous essay. Accordingly, it emphasizes the absence of an identifiable ‘Daoist school’ in this period. The term ‘daojia’ originally denoted specialists in Daoist techniques of inner cultivation and Dao-based principles of governance, while Huang-Lao functioned as the designation of the politically oriented doctrine of the ‘daojia’. On this basis, the author supports the view that the Daoism described in the ‘Shiji’ is identical with the Huang-Lao doctrine.

The article further discusses the role and significance of the figures of Laozi and the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) within this doctrine and traces the roots of Daoist syncretism to the pre-Han period. Although the ‘Shiji’ accounts of the origins of Huang-Lao are vague and retrospective, the most plausible hypothesis locates the emergence of Huang-Lao ideas in the state of Qi, where the renowned Jixia Academy was active. The biographies of Han-period figures associated with Huang-Lao, which recorded in the ‘Shiji’, are particularly important for elucidating the nature of this doctrine. Their analysis demonstrates that the syncretic Daoist ideas represented by Huang-Lao were influential under the early Han emperors and dominated the court during the reigns of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing, whereas the accession of Emperor Wu marked a decline in the political influence of proponents of Daoist thought. At the same time, the article argues that these figures did not share a common identity grounded in affiliation with the Huang-Lao doctrine.

This paper suggests that the authors of the Shiji constructed the category ‘daojia’ and portrayed Huang-Lao as a philosophical school in order to consolidate adherents of the Daoist tradition and enhance their authority and influence. Consequently, the article proposes understanding Huang-Lao as a syncretic Daoist tradition encompassing the teachings of individual masters, rather than as a coherent and historically constituted philosophical school.