Traditional Chinese paintings, as a form of plastic arts with painting brushes, ink and silk paper as the main tools and the structures of dots and lines as the main means of expression, are mainly based on the 5,000 years of brilliant civilization of China and are abundant in tradition and show extremely unique national styles. Chinese paintings of the 20th century, however, reflects various complex morphologies including how Chinese arts has developed from tradition to modern times, how it has introduced and absorbed Western arts and the collision and fusion between Chinese and Western arts. With the prices of Chinese paintings soaring at international arts auctions, more and more foreigners begin to show profound interest in the art of Chinese painting. This book, instead of following the usual practice of writing about the appreciation of painting works, highlights the close relationship between the art of painting and Chinese culture, and tells us the cultural tales behind that.

Contents
Preface
Painting and the Culture Elite
Perceiving the World with the Eyes of Chinese Painters
From Gu Kaizhi to Wu Daozi
Tomb Chamber Paintings
The Most Romantic Painting
Communicatin of the Soul
Spring Outing
Emperors of Great Prosperity
Another Figure Painting
The Painting Saga
Famous Paintings Record of Past Dynasties
Desert Treasures
Buddhism Going East
Dunhuang Mogao Caves
Lucid Mountains and Remote Streams
Northenr Painters and Southen Painters
Emperor Huizong and His Peried
Along the River During the Qingming Festival
Panorama Shanshui
Su Shi and Mi Fu
Scholar Paintings
Zhao Mengfu and Four Masters of the Yuan Dynasty
Plum Blossom,Orchid Bamboo and Stone
The Southern and Northern Sects
Four Monks and Four Wangs
The End of Scholar Paintings and Famous Chinese Painters of Modern Times
Modern Chinese Paintings
Painters Studying Abroad
Revolutionary Realism
Modern and Post Modern