Beginning as early as the Wei-Jin, Northern and Southern dynasties period, due to social paralysis caused by successive years of war and turmoil, China's scholarly elite began to return to the mystical thought of Lao Zi and Chuang Zi.
這樣的轉變，其實關鍵繫於背後的哲學體系。早從魏晉南北朝開始，在連年征戰、時局板蕩下，充滿無力感的士大夫階級就瀰漫著一片歸隱自然的老莊玄學思想。