Types of oriental painting

Chinese painting has the following four types.

1. Figure painting is one of the traditional painting themes in China, and its content is mainly to describe characters. Because of the different emphases of painting, it can be divided into portrait painting, story painting and genre painting. According to records, figure painting has reached a high level in the Spring and Autumn Period. The achievements of figure painting can be seen from the silk paintings unearthed from Chu tombs in the Warring States period. Figure painting has always been the most important theme of traditional painting in China.

2. Landscape painting, referred to as "landscape", is one of the painting disciplines in China. This is a painting with the theme of depicting the natural scenery of mountains and rivers. It gradually developed during the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, but it still served as the background of figure painting. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, many independent landscape paintings appeared. In the Five Dynasties and the Northern Song Dynasty, it became more and more mature, and the number of authors increased. Since then, it has become a major painting theme of Chinese painting. There are mainly turquoise, resplendent, boneless, light crimson, ink and other forms. In artistic expression, it emphasizes commercial position and artistic conception.

3. Flower-and-bird painting is one of the traditional painting themes in China. To depict flowers, bamboo stones, birds and animals, insects and fish as the main body of the picture. The simple fish and bird patterns on pottery four or five thousand years ago can be regarded as the earliest flower and bird paintings. According to Zhang Yanyuan's Records of Famous Paintings in the Tang Dynasty, during the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, flower paintings painted on silks gradually formed an independent painting branch, and some specialized painters appeared. By the Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty, this branch of painting was more mature.

4. Boundary painting is also one of China's painting themes. It refers to paintings with palaces, balconies, houses and other buildings as the theme, and those drawn in straight lines are also called "palaces" or "house wood".