This is a kind of tricky one.
How about Confucius and subsequent scholars gain popularity in the West during the Enlightenment? That seems plausible enough, and it can occur in the 17th Century, soon after the Ming collapse. Just translate some texts and ship them to Europe, and Chinese philosophers could have a reputation matching the Greeks'.
Unfortunately, that wouldn't come with all of the social change that accompanied Neo-Confucianism in China, Japan, and Korea. I'm not sure how that could be accomplished, since Christianity's a pretty heavy stone to move and, by this era, not one very open to syncreticism in Europe.