The Tao (pronounced "Dow") is "a power which envelops, surrounds and flows through all things, living and non-living. The Tao regulates natural processes and nourishes balance in the Universe. It embodies the harmony of opposites (i.e. there would be no love without hate, no light without dark, no male without female.)"  

“Tao” can be translated as path, or the way. The founder of Taoism, Lao-Tse (604-531BCE), was contemporary of Confucius. Tao-Tse (or: Lao Tze, Lao Tsu, Lao Tzu, Laozi, Laotze, etc.) was searching for a way that would avoid the constant feudal warfare and conflict that plagued society during his lifetime. According to legend, at eighty years of age he set out for the western border of China, toward what is now Tibet. He was saddened and disillusioned that men were unwilling to follow the path to natural goodness. At the border (Hank Pass), a guard, Yin Xi (or Yin Hsi), asked Lao Tsu to record his teachings before he left. He is said to have written, in 5000 characters, the Tao Te Ching (The Way and Its Power).

Taoism began as a philosophy, but by 440 AD had been accepted as a state religion. Taoism, rejects hatred, intolerance, and unnecessary violence. It calls people to embrace harmony, love and learning, and Nature. Taoism was never radical or subversive and in many ways complemented the ideals of Confucian life. The two ways are not mutually exclusive. Many Chinese men and women practice both. Taoism, along with Buddhism and Confucianism, became one of the three great religions of China. With the end of the Ch'ing Dynasty in 1911, state support for Taoism ended. Much of Taoist history was lost during the ensuing period of warlordism. After the Communist victory in 1949, religious freedom was severely restricted.

Many forms of Kung Fu, especially Tai Chi Chuan, are physical expressions of the principles and philosophy of Taoism. Fong Sai Yuk, the famous swordsman and founder of Bok Fu Do (way of the White Tiger) was a Taoist philosopher. These martial arts embody the harmony of opposites first expressed by Lao Tsu: