Possibly in the Twentieth Century, inside and outside China, the person who most thoroughly understood Lao Tzu's philosophy, was the great mathematician Shiing-shen Chern(1911-2004), for whom a few thories starting with his surname were attributed to. Profesor Chern's work in topology follows the path initiated by modern German mathematician Karl Frederich Gauss(1777-1855). Gauss' Axiom iniiated the Modern Differential Geometry, which was a monumental break-through in mathmatics, after almost two milenium domination of the traditional Euclid Geometry of ancient Greece. It made the introduction of the fourth dimension(Time, in addition to the three dimension space) by Einstein an easier task.

Various Chern's Theories present the theory for the possibility of Multi-dimensions Axiom(more than not only three, but also four, five etc etc). His thinking was the precursor of the later evolveedf Galabi-Yau Spaces. Because of the latter, the introduction of The String Theory in physics could be made possible. The String Theory aims to explain away the incoherence that had bothered Einstein when he tried to finalize his Unified Field Theory of the universe; we all know that Einstein had devoted many decades of his later years on tackling this problem. The success of both these creative works involves deep comprehension, intuition and courage.

Professor Chern was born in the China Eastern coastal Province Zhejiang in 1911, the year China embarks the roadmap to democracy, breaking away from its three thousand years traditional of feudalism. Professor Chern's spent his childhood being schooled strictly and intensively in the traditionally all-embracing Confucianism. His first name was an immediate reminiscence of a quote of Confuscious "A person should reflact his own behavior thre times a day": whether one is truthfull to himself, being trustworthy to other people and practice (the learning and wisdom) he has learned.

In addition, the hometow Pofesor Chern grew up used to be the center for gathering of poets and Confucian intellectuals. By his late teens, before he went North to Nankai University to study mathematics, he was already very well versed in The Analects of Confucious, which was like a Bible in China since Third Century B.C. His understanding of the classical Chinese surpassed that of average Chinese intellectuals of his generation; he was also a poet himself, in the traditional Chinese fashion; the poet must achieve the skill to express his feelings, prima facie, subtly and succinctly with just a few restricted rhyming sentences. It was also through attending Nankai University that he could immerse himself in the atmosphere of then ongoing The New Cultural Movement launched on May 4th of 1919. Nankai University was only couple hudred miles away from the center of this activities--Beijing. This may make it even easier for Professor Chern to break loose from the tutelage of Confucianism and to become an indepedent non-tradiaional thinker . It was then, he started reading Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching and made his own judgement about Lao Tzu's thought, departing from various accepted commentaries. Like many great minds, e.g. Nietzsche and Russell, he immediately liked what he has understood of Lao Tzu, despite the influence of vulgar depiction of Taoism and many improper affiliation of the thoughts the book Lao Tzu intended to manifest.

In the mean time, many halfwit conservative Confucians were disputing the authentic historical fact against then more open-minded scholars like Hu Shih. The ultra conservative Confucians wanted to dispel the fact that Lao Tzu was born before Confucius(about half century in fact) and hence had given Confucius some sagacious advises. Professor Chern felt very strongly and serious about this issue, all the way through until his death. When he overhearded that I was doing research tackling this problem, he asked me to send him my draft(in both Chinese and English). Luckily he did agree with me on my analysis and conclusion that the history report in Shih Chi (Chinese History before 2nd Century B.C.)was correct and he also agrees that maybe LAOISM(Lao Hsueh) is a better denotaion to set Lao Tzu's thought apart from commonly understood vulgar Taoism.

Considering Professor Chern's all-around understanding of the classical Chinese than average scholars, his profound understanding of the original Confucianism, his living the way Lao Tzu has advocated(self-effacement and humility) and his being a great thinker in mathematics, particularly in topology, his understanding of Lao Tzu was matchless.