Why did literati painters in Song Dynasty choose dead wood, bamboo stone, plum blossom, orchid and other themes to create?

At that time, many literati were tested in political competition and their careers were not satisfactory. They need painting to adjust their unbalanced psychology. Inspired by Xu Xiye's Yi Painting School, a new painting trend-literati painting trend first rose in the field of flower-and-bird painting, and later involved in the field of landscape painting. Flower-and-bird paintings have a wide variety of themes, and literati painters deliberately chose varieties such as dead wood, bamboo stone, plum blossom and orchid.

The subject matter of literati painting contains the connotation of weakness, firmness and narcissism, which is in tune with the thoughts and feelings of literati. In terms of pen and ink modeling, it is also suitable for writing in the form of calligraphy, rather than requiring strict modeling skills like the general flower-and-bird theme. In this way, through the continuous efforts of several generations of literati and painters, bamboo, plum, orchid and chrysanthemum have formed a special variety in the traditional flower-and-bird painting family, called "Four Gentlemen".