Chinese Painting Masterpieces in America

            As one of the world’s oldest continuous civilizations, Chinese history is the history of Chinese territorial expansion, invasion, and immigration. Its rich and dynamically changing history created numerous art and cultural treasures which involved contributions from many different peoples. Each Chinese dynasty had its own distinct characteristic. Therefore, Chinese artists have produced artworks that are not only engaging and beautiful but also reflect their primary ideas, concerns, values, and traditions in their own period of time.

            Poetry and calligraphy were, and still are, greatly valued in Chinese culture. Together with painting, they are known as the Three Perfections. In Chinese paintings, landscapes, figures, flowers, animals are the most common subjects, and they usually combine with the poem inscription and hand-written calligraphy about the scene and artists’ feelings at that moment. Chinese artists examined the relationship between humankind and nature in their paintings and added deeper layers of meaning to the visual scene with philosophical concepts, beliefs and symbolic associations, such as Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Three Perfections combine with distinguished Chinese philosophies are reflecting the esteemed position of the arts in Chinese life.