The Development of three Kinds of Chinese Painting

三种类型中国画的发展

The infancy¹ of Chinese painting predated the appearance of written characters. The pre-historical culture and the whole Chinese cultural development had a close relation with it. The techniques used in figure painting had reached maturity² during the periods from the later Zhou to the Han, Wei and the Six Dynasties. Landscape and flower-and-bird paintings had become an independent category in the Sui and Tang dynasties. There were many schools of wash and landscape painting artists in the Five Dynasties and the Northern and Southern Song and landscape painting became a major sector³.

中国绘画的初级阶段先于书面人物的出现。前历史文化乃至整个中国文化的发展都曾与它有密切的关系。在人物画中所使用的技术，在从后周时期的汉魏六朝已经达到成熟。山水画与花鸟画已成为隋唐一个独立的类别。在五朝和南北宋时期有许多学校的艺术家画山水画和山水画已经成为一个主要的部分。