Zhuangzi, with the given name of Zhou, was a representative figure of Taoism and a great Taoist thinker after Laozi. He was from the State of Song (present-day northeastern Shangqiu of Henan) during the Warring States Period.

Zhuangzi used to serve as an official at the Lacquer Garden. He was very poor and would borrow millet from others to survive. Unwilling to be "restrained by state rulers", he didn't want to be an official all his life.

Following Laozi's "dao" thoughts and believing that the dao would culminate in the eradication of all differences, Zhuangzi was an advocate of "unifying right and wrong, big and small, life and death and noble and base". He was also a firm believer in inaction, promoting the free realm in which "the universe and an individual person were born at the same time, so all things in the universe are one with the individual".

Zhuangzi's book-the Zhuangzi, named after him, was a reflection of his ideas. He and Laozi were jointly called "Laozhuang" by Taoists of later generations.