Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove
After the collapse of the Han dynasty in AD 207 and the subsequent chaos of the Three Kingdoms period, both the "Zhuangzi" and Zhuang Zhou began to rise in popularity and acclaim. The 3rd century AD poets Ruan Ji and Xi Kang, both members of the famous Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, were ardent "Zhuangzi" admirers, and one of Ruan's essays, entitled "Discourse on Summing Up the "Zhuangzi"" ("Dá Zhuāng lùn" ), is still extant. This period saw Confucianism temporarily surpassed by a revival of Daoism and old divination texts, such as the "Classic of Changes" ("I Ching" ), and many early medieval Chinese poets, artists, and calligraphers were deeply influenced by the "Zhuangzi".