Only at the beginning, although Huang Lao talked about governing by doing nothing in the early Han Dynasty, he didn't study Tao specifically, just governing by doing nothing. Later, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty only respected Confucianism, which hindered the development of metaphysics, but tied Confucianism to the chariot of political power. He could only use Confucian classics to study and be an official, but Taoist thought was not broken.
However, after the Yellow Scarf Uprising at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, heroes clashed with princes, Cao Wei forcibly replaced Han and Sima Jiaqiang replaced Cao Wei, which made many scholars lose interest in being an official and began to abandon their home country and the world and discuss some metaphysical things instead.
In addition, there was a debate about Yin and Yang and the universe in the Han Dynasty, and they put forward many interesting arguments about heaven, earth and man from the standpoint of Taoist metaphysics. This way of discussion is called opening remarks. However, because there were many celebrities who talked openly, and there were many talents like the Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest, the officialdom began to be arty, and this way of public discussion became popular, so that when the officialdom held a meeting, the literati did not talk about people's livelihood but only talked openly, and gradually metaphysics actually became another kind of Chinese studies besides Confucianism in the Wei and Jin Dynasties.