The Cultural Decomposition and Integration of Wei and Jin Dynasties and the Rise of New Prose Style

The social turmoil at the end of Eastern Han Dynasty led to the decline of Confucianism. After the Jian An period in which pragmatism became the prevailing thought, Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism permeated each other and integrated into the Metaphysical School in the Wei and Jin dynasties with a popular taste for emptiness and tranquility. The famous scholars with completely different manners in the Eastern Jin period indicated their change of personality in the new cultural environment. Therefore the prose style also took on a new look with the characteristics of lofty tranquility, great ease and fluency, keen insight, conciseness and simplicity.