When did Buddhism become popular in China?
Around 500 A.D., in the period of the Three Kingdoms, Buddhism first came to China from India, where the Buddha had lived and where Buddhism got started. Actually, there were Buddhists in China even during the Han Dynasty, around 50 A.D., but their number increased considerably under the Three Kingdoms. Some Buddhists were persecuted by the emperors, but generally Buddhism was popular and accepted. The Tang Dynasty Empress Wu, for example, was a Buddhist. But Taoism was still very strong in China.
Under the Sung Dynasty (about 1000 A.D.), a sort of Confucianism combined with Buddhism became popular. Scholars reread the old Confucian philosophical writings in Buddhist terms, and tried to derive Buddhist meanings out of them.
