 The conservative Confucian movement could be seen before the likes of Zhu Xi ( 1130 – 1200 ) , with staunch anti @-@ Buddhists such as Ouyang Xiu ( 1007 – 1072 ) . In his written work of the Ben @-@ lun , he wrote of his theory for how Buddhism had so easily penetrated Chinese culture during the earlier Southern and Northern Dynasties period . He argued that Buddhism became widely accepted when China 's traditional institutions were weakened at the time . This was due to many factors , such as foreign Xianbei ruling over the north , and China 's political schism that caused warfare and other ills . Although Emperor Wen of Sui ( r . 581 – 604 ) abolished the Nine Ranks in favor of a Confucian @-@ taught bureaucracy drafted through civil service examinations , he also heavily sponsored the popular ideology of Buddhism to legitimate his rule . Hence , it was given free rein and influence to flourish and dominate Chinese culture during the Sui and Tang periods ; historian Arthur F. Wright describes Confucianism in this period as being reverted to a state of " stale archaism " . Ouyang Xiu wrote : 
