The Era of Division 49
Daoism fl ourished as a philosophy and religion. Buddhism became the
dominant religion in north and south China alike and in turn gave rise
to the fi rst sophisticated development of Chinese sculpture and the cre-
ation of the magnifi cent Buddhist caves of Yungang, Longmen, and
Dunhuang. According to historical records from the time, by the late
fi fth century there were nearly 6,500 Buddhist temples and more than
77,000 monks and nuns in north China. And in the early sixth century,
there were reported to be more than 2,800 Buddhist temples and more
than 83,000 monks and nuns in the south.
In the same years, the literati developed a new ideal of the artist-
recluse who is free from the obligations and headaches of offi cialdom.
Poets broke away from the early Confucian idea that poetry’s main pur-
pose was the teaching of moral lessons and instead began to emphasize
the overriding importance of spontaneity, creativity, and the expression
of authentic emotion in poetry. These new artistic ideals helped inspire
creative new developments in poetry, painting, and calligraphy. It is no
coincidence that writers of this time created the fi rst Chinese literary
anthologies based on the idea of literature as artistic creation and not sim-
ply moralistic preaching. Fiction writing also developed new approaches
as Buddhist missionaries discovered that suspenseful stories were more
successful than moralistic instructions in spreading their message.
All these changes meant that China in 589 was a very different
civilization from what it had been in the Han dynasty. China was now
a much wealthier, more urbanized, and more commercialized country
than in Han times. As a result of the growing prosperity, international
trade, and cultural creativity of the three and a half centuries following
the fall of the Han, the succeeding Sui-Tang period was to be one of the
most vibrant and rich cultural eras in all of Chinese history.