“Since 2002, I’ve come here to pay homage to Laozi over a hundred times,” said 60-year-old Taiwanese elder Li Xinghan in front of the statue of Laozi at Laojun Mountain in Henan on the morning of the 14th.
That day, Li clan members from home and abroad gathered at Laojun Mountain in Luoyang, Henan, to jointly worship their ancestor Laozi and reflect on and cherish memories of their forebears.
“I’m from Kaohsiung, Taiwan. I’ve lived in Taiwan since childhood. Ever since I was old enough to understand things, my family has had the custom of worshipping Laozi. Our family has a history of over 400 years in Taiwan, and our genealogy from 50 years ago records 90% of the Li surnames in Taiwan. I often tell my son and grandson not to forget their roots — our roots lie in the motherland mainland, in this place where our ancestor spent his later years in seclusion,” Li Xinghan told China News Service. Throughout his life, he has never stopped tracing back to his ancestors. He once went to Quanzhou, Fujian, to find the specific origin of his family based on historical records. When he learned that the Li family in Quanzhou had migrated from the Central Plains region, he came to Henan Province. Since 2002, he has developed a special affection for Laojun Mountain, the place where Laozi, also known as Li Er, spent his later years in seclusion according to records, and has climbed the mountain over a hundred times to date.
“When I first started climbing Laojun Mountain, the cable car wasn’t built yet, so I had to walk all 3,000-plus stone steps from Nantianmen to the mountaintop,” Li Xinghan described. Among the Li clan members in Taiwan, Laozi, or Li Er, holds a supreme status. This stems from the philosophical thinking, values reflected in Laozi’s “Tao Te Ching,” and his status in Taoist legends. “Sometimes people around me lament that ‘moral standards are declining and people are not as they used to be.’ I tell them that no matter how the world changes, the ‘Tao’ and ‘De’ (the Way and Virtue) advocated by our ancestors must be passed on.”
According to authoritative statistics, the global population with the surname Li exceeds 120 million, making it the most common surname in the world, accounting for 12.64% of China’s total population. The Li family has a long and profound history, but not all share the same root or lineage. Some trace back to the “Li” (originally “Li”) surname of Gao Yao, a descendant of the Yellow Emperor; others to the Li surname of Li Lizhen, the 18th son of Gao Yao’s descendant; some are derived from other surnames or ethnic groups that changed to Li; and there are also those who were granted the Li surname by emperors throughout history.
Li Er, courtesy name Boyang, posthumous title Dan, commonly known as Laozi, was born in Luyi County, Henan Province. In the late Eastern Zhou Dynasty, he served as an official in Luoyang and wrote the “Tao Te Ching” at Hangu Pass. He spent his later years in seclusion at Laojun Mountain. He is the 11th-generation ancestor of the Li surname, a renowned thinker, philosopher, and founder of the Taoist school in Chinese history. Taoist followers refer to him as the “Supreme Old Lord.”