How did the arrival of a new religion change the focus of Chinese paintings?

Basically, Great philosphers, teachers, religious figures and even political leaders influenced Chinese art into different forms of art. By then, paintings of more subtle expressions of landscapes appeared with blurred outlines and mountain contours which conveyed distance through an impressionistic treatment of natural phenomena and it was during this period that in painting, spiritual was more emphasised rather than emotional elements as in the previous period.