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Secondary sourcePhotograph1907

Stele Marking Where Confucius Questioned Laozi

Édouard Chavannes · 1907

A 1907 photograph by Édouard Chavannes of a stele and temple building in Henan marking the legendary meeting of Confucius and Laozi.

This site and photograph commemorate the legendary meeting of Confucius with Laozi to discuss rites.

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Black and white photograph of a brick temple-like building with a tiled, curved roof, a wooden door reached by a flight of stone steps, and a long brick wall. An arched brick gateway stands at right, with a dirt road and small figures in front and trees behind.
Édouard Chavannes, photograph of the stele marking where Confucius questioned Laozi, Henanfu, 1907.

About this source

What it is

This is a black-and-white photograph taken in 1907 by the French scholar Édouard Chavannes, showing a brick temple-like building in Henanfu, Henan province, China. The site includes a stele said to mark the place where Confucius questioned Laozi about rites.

Why it matters

The stele commemorates a famous legendary encounter between Confucius and Laozi, the figure traditionally linked to Daoism. Such monuments show how later generations marked and remembered important meetings between major thinkers, even when such stories cannot be fully verified historically. Chavannes's photograph is itself a historical record of how the site looked in the early 20th century.

Look closer

  • Why would people build a monument to mark a conversation rather than a physical event like a battle?
  • What does the photograph tell us about the site's condition in 1907?
  • Why is it important to know this image was recorded by a scholar studying the site, not Confucius or Laozi themselves?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Confucius and Laozi on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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