When you visit every cities in China, you will find the Sichuan cuisine is the most popular cuisine. Of the eight major schools of China’s culinary art, Sichuan cuisine is perhaps the most popular. Originating in Sichuan Province of westernChina, Sichuan cuisine, known as Chuan Cai in Chinese, enjoys an international reputation for beingspicy and flavorful. Yet the highly distinctive pungency is not its only characteristic. In fact, Sichuan cuisine boasts a variety of flavors and different methods of cooking, featuring the taste of hot, sweet, sour, salty, or tongue-numbing.

The origin of Sichuan cuisine can be traced back to the Qin and Han Dynasties (221BC-220AD), its recognition as a distinct regional system took place in the Han Dynasties (206BC-220AD). As a unique style of food, Sichuan cuisine was famous more than 800 years ago during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) when Sichuan restaurants were opened in Lin’an, now called Hangzhou, the capital. The hot pepper was introduced into China from South America around the end of the 17th century. Once it came to Sichuan, it became a favored food flavoring. In the late Qing Dynasty around 19th century, Sichuan cuisine became a unique local flavor, enjoying the same reputation with Shandong, Guangdong (Canton) and Huaiyang cuisines.

Sichuan has high humidity and many rainy or overcast days. Hot pepper helps reduce internal dampness, so it was used frequently in dishes, and hot dishes became the norm in Sichuan cuisine. The region’s warm, humid climate also necessitates sophisticated food-preservation techniques which include picking, salting, drying and smoking.

Sichuan has been known as the land of plenty since ancient times. It produces abundant domestic animals, poultry, and freshwater fish and crayfish. Sichuan cuisine is well known for cooking fish. The raw materials are delicacies from land and river, edible wild herbs, and the meat of domestic animals and birds. Beef is more common in Sichuan cuisine than it is in other Chinese cuisines, perhaps due to the widespread use of oxen in the region. Stir-fried beef is often cooked until chewy, while steamed beef is sometimes coated with rice flour to produce rich gravy.

Sichuan dishes consist of Chengdu, Chongqing and vegetarian dishes. Masterly used cooking techniques are sauteing, stir-frying without stewing, dry-braising, Pao (soaking in water) and Hui (frying then braising with corn flour sauce). Sichuan cuisine is famous for its distinct and various flavors, the most outstanding ones are fish flavors, pepper powder boiled in oil, strange flavor and sticky-hot.

Statistics show that the number of Sichuan dishes has surpassed 5,000. Dishes typical of Sichuan are twice cooked pork, spicy diced chicken with peanuts, dry-fried shark fin, and fish-flavored pork shred. One of the popular dishes is Pockmarked Woman’s bean curd (or Mapo Doufu in Chinese) which was invented by a Chengdu chef’s pockmarked wife decades ago in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The cubed bean curd is cooked over a low flame in a sauce which contains ground beef, chili, and pepper. When served, the bean curd is tender, spicy, and appetizing. Although many Sichuan dishes live up to their spicy reputation, often ignored are the large percentage of recipes that use little or no spice at all, including recipes such as “tea smoked duck”.

Maybe the most famous place in China, Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum is situated 5km east of Lintong County in Yan Zhai village. The original name of the mausoleum was”LiShan”. The site was chosen which fulfilled the geomagnetic requirements with mountains as the backdrop and a river in front,and the tomb was therefore placed between the Li Mountain to the south and the Wei River to the north.
Emperor Qin Shihuang began to build the mausoleum for himself since he came to throne at the age of 13. After the unification of the country in 221B.C.the project grew large in scale. Over 720,000 convicts from all parts of the empire wcre conscripted as laborers. The work continued even after the emperor’s death, taking, in total, 38 years. The fact that one of the satellite pits of the terra-cotta army, Pit NO. 4, was unfinished and remained empty, suggests that the planned work was not completed.
Emperor Qin shihuang’s Mausoleum is very large, covering the total area of 56.25sqkm.  it is rectangular in shape and enclosed by two walls-the inner city wall and the outer city wall, forming the shape of the Chinese character”回”.
The inner wall measured 1,355m in length from north to south and 580m in width from east to west with a circumference of 3,870m, The area was 79sqm.The outer wall was 2,186m in length from north to south and 976m in width from east to west with a circumference of 6,321m. The area was 213 sqm.The walls no longer exist but the foundations halved remained.
In the north east part of the inner city, a small was built with 670m long from north to south and 330m wide from east to west. Both the inner and outer walls had a gate with gate tower on eath side , apart from the north side lf the inner wall which had two gates.Both the inner and outer walls had watchtowers at the four corners. The large tomb lies in the south part of the inner city at the point of intersection of six gates.
So many buildings that were above ground have been reduced to ruin or have simply vanished without a trace that it is difficult to determine what the original mausoleum might have looked like.But the number of unusually well-preserved relics beneath the ground have provided archaeologists with a good idea as to the design and overall layout of the mausoleum of Emperor Qin shihuang.
The mausoleum builders got the surprising achievements by their hard work ,however their life lived in poor condition, Rebellious peasants pillaged and burnt those buildings connected with the Qin dynasty, which was hated for its cruelty. The palaces and other buildings within the walls of the mausoleum were destroyed. Only the huge pyramid of the mound survived the devastation, although it is not known whether later grave robbers have plundered the tomb. In 1987 the mausoleum was by UNESCO as a World Heritage site.

The Giant Panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan province, but also in the Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. Due to farming, deforestation, and other development, the Giant Panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived.

The Giant Panda is a conservation reliant endangered species. A 2007 report shows 239 Giant Pandas living in captivity inside China and another 27 outside the country. Wild population estimates vary; one estimate shows that there are about 1,590 individuals living in the wild, while a 2006 study via DNA analysis estimated that this figure could be as high as 2,000 to 3,000. Some reports also show that the number of Giant Pandas in the wild is on the rise. However, the IUCN does not believe there is enough certainty yet to reclassify the species from Endangered to Vulnerable.

While the dragon has historically served as China’s national emblem, in recent decades the Giant Panda has also served as an emblem for the country. Its image appears on a large number of modern Chinese commemorative silver, gold, and platinum coins. Though the Giant Panda is often assumed to be docile, it has been known to attack humans, presumably out of irritation rather than predatory behavior.

The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, often one month later than the Gregorian calendar. It originated in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC-c. 1100 BC) from the people’s sacrifice to gods and ancestors at the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one.

Strictly speaking, the Spring Festival starts every year in the early days of the 12th lunar month and will last till the mid 1st lunar month of the next year. Of them, the most important days are Spring Festival Eve and the first three days. The Chinese government now stipulates people have seven days off for the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Many customs accompany the Spring Festival. Some are still followed today, but others have weakened.

On the 8th day of the 12th lunar month, many families make laba porridge, a delicious kind of porridge made with glutinous rice, millet, seeds of Job’s tears, jujube berries, lotus seeds, beans, longan and gingko.

The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month is called Preliminary Eve. At this time, people offer sacrifice to the kitchen god. Now however, most families make delicious food to enjoy themselves.

After the Preliminary Eve, people begin preparing for the coming New Year. This is called “Seeing the New Year in”.

Store owners are busy then as everybody goes out to purchase necessities for the New Year. Materials not only include edible oil, rice, flour, chicken, duck, fish and meat, but also fruit, candies and kinds of nuts. What’s more, various decorations, new clothes and shoes for the children as well as gifts for the elderly, friends and relatives, are all on the list of purchasing.

Before the New Year comes, the people completely clean the indoors and outdoors of their homes as well as their clothes, bedclothes and all their utensils.

Then people begin decorating their clean rooms featuring an atmosphere of rejoicing and festivity. All the door panels will be pasted with Spring Festival couplets, highlighting Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper. The content varies from house owners’ wishes for a bright future to good luck for the New Year. Also, pictures of the god of doors and wealth will be posted on front doors to ward off evil spirits and welcome peace and abundance.

The Chinese character “fu” (meaning blessing or happiness) is a must. The character put on paper can be pasted normally or upside down, for in Chinese the “reversed fu” is homophonic with “fu comes”, both being pronounced as “fudaole.” What’s more, two big red lanterns can be raised on both sides of the front door. Red paper-cuttings can be seen on window glass and brightly colored New Year paintings with auspicious meanings may be put on the wall.

People attach great importance to Spring Festival Eve. At that time, all family members eat dinner together. The meal is more luxurious than usual. Dishes such as chicken, fish and bean curd cannot be excluded, for in Chinese, their pronunciations, respectively “ji”, “yu” and “doufu,” mean auspiciousness, abundance and richness. After the dinner, the whole family will sit together, chatting and watching TV. In recent years, the Spring Festival party broadcast on China Central Television Station (CCTV) is essential entertainment for the Chinese both at home and abroad. According to custom, each family will stay up to see the New Year in.

Waking up on New Year, everybody dresses up. First they extend greetings to their parents. Then each child will get money as a New Year gift, wrapped up in red paper. People in northern China will eat jiaozi, or dumplings, for breakfast, as they think “jiaozi” in sound means “bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new”. Also, the shape of the dumpling is like gold ingot from ancient China. So people eat them and wish for money and treasure.

Southern Chinese eat niangao (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour) on this occasion, because as a homophone, niangao means “higher and higher, one year after another.” The first five days after the Spring Festival are a good time for relatives, friends, and classmates as well as colleagues to exchange greetings, gifts and chat leisurely.

Burning fireworks was once the most typical custom on the Spring Festival. People thought the spluttering sound could help drive away evil spirits. However, such an activity was completely or partially forbidden in big cities once the government took security, noise and pollution factors into consideration. As a replacement, some buy tapes with firecracker sounds to listen to, some break little balloons to get the sound too, while others buy firecracker handicrafts to hang in the living room.

The lively atmosphere not only fills every household, but permeates to streets and lanes. A series of activities such as lion dancing, dragon lantern dancing, lantern festivals and temple fairs will be held for days. The Spring Festival then comes to an end when the Lantern Festival is finished.

China has 56 ethnic groups. Minorities celebrate their Spring Festival almost the same day as the Han people, and they have different customs.

In 1994 December, Chengde Summer Resort, Hebei was honored as “World Cultural and Natural Heritage” by the UN Organization of Science, Education and Culture.

The Summer Resort is take the simple and subtle smell of the suburb as its style, it relies on the original color of the natural elements, features the charm of south Changjiang River, the scale is a astonishment. The palace wall is not painted in red, but the natural color of the local material; the palace imitated the layout of the courtyard of northern China, it is too, simply decorated, featuring blue bricks and tiles, it provides a drastic contrast with the style of the Forbidden City. The Summer Resort can be divided into Palace area and park area. Palace area is the place where the emperor took care of the governmental affairs, held celebration and rest , it is 100 thousand m2 large, comprising the main palace, Songhe Qi, Wanghe Songfeng and East Palace four parts. Park area can again be divided into Huzhou zone, plain zone and mountains zone. Huzhou zone features countless islands, ripple lakes, it is famed as a land flowing with milk and honey in south Changjiang River. In the northeast corner, located Qing spring, it is the famous Rehe spring. The west of plain zone is a land of green grass, it can remind you the landscape in Mongolia; to the east, the old trees are in dominant position, it resembles the phenomenon of Great Xingan Mountains. The entire Summer Palace is a collection of the natural landscapes throughout the country; it integrates the characters of scenes across the country; it is an improvement of the architectural style of the whole country.

To the east and north of the Summer Palace, distributed the grand and huge temple constructions, this is what famed as Waiba Temple. They were constructed during Kangxi 52nd year (1713) to Qianlong 45th year (1780). They are: Anda Temple, Puning Temple, Xumifusi Temple, Putuozongcheng Temple, Shuxiang Temple. Waiba Temple features the artistic style of the palace in Han dynasty and creates the standard architectural style in temple for China.The main building in Waiba Temple consists of Pule Temple, Puning Temple, Xumifusi Temple. Xuguang Hall, the theme architecture of Pule Temple, enjoys an elegant charm, just like a duplicate of Qinian Palace in Beijing. The figure of Kwan-yin with a thousand arms and eyes in Dachengzhi Hall of Puning Temple, is 23.511 meters high and 110 tons heavy, it is the biggest wooden Buddhist statue in the world. Xumifushou Temple is the place where the 6th Panchen taught his doctrines. Its main architecture, Miaogaozhuangyan Palace, is beautiful and imposing, on the four ridges crouch two vivid dragons. Putuozongcheng Temple is an imitation of the Potala Palace in Tibet, and it is known as the small Potala Palace.

In the past, both Dan and Sheng roles were played by male actors, but now they also can be played by female. It is necessary to see Peking Opera while you are in China, just as seeing an opera while in Italy. There are also some other types of opera staged in China, such as Kunqu Opera, Pingju Opera and Hebei Bangzi as well as other operas from different places.

To many, the idea of a World Expo might seem like a dated, superfluous throwback from some preglobalized age. (Remember the one in Aichi, Japan? Enough said.) But tell that to the 70 million who are expected to attend Expo 2010 in Shanghai.

This is China, after all. And following up on Beijing’s spectacular Olympics, Shanghai is pulling out all the stops. From May 1 to Oct. 31, more than 200 national and other pavilions will straddle the city’s Huangpu River, turning a two-square-mile site into an architectural playground: Switzerland will be represented by a building shaped like a map of that country, complete with a rooftop chairlift, while England is in the celebrated hands of the designer Thomas Heatherwick, who is fashioning what looks like a big, hairy marshmallow. Other attention grabbers include Macao, taking the form of a walk-through bunny, and the United Arab Emirates, which hired Foster + Partners to build a “sand dune.” (By contrast, the United States pavilion might be mistaken for a suburban office park.)

In the run-up to the Expo, Shanghai seems to have taken this year’s theme, “Better City, Better Life,” to heart, spending tens of billions of dollars to upgrade the city. The riverfront Bund promenade is getting a makeover with parks and pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, while the subway is being dramatically expanded — including several new stations serving the World Expo site. — Aric Chen

Chances are, the iPod in your pocket was made in Shenzhen, China. But this industrial powerhouse of a city on the Pearl River Delta in the southern region of the country, is more than just a factory town of sweatshops and bad smog — and it has the high-class hotels and high rollers to prove it.

Shenzhen is one of China’s wealthiest cities, right up there with Shanghai and Beijing. Situated just a 45-minute train ride north of Hong Kong, the thriving city exemplifies China’s breakneck transformation from peasant economy to capitalist giant. Its rapid rise can be traced back to 1979, when Deng Xiaoping selected the sleepy fishing port as a special economic zone. Money, bulldozers and cheap labor poured in. Dim sum joints and illicit massage parlors gave way to gleaming shopping malls and faceless skyscrapers. A city of 14 million sprang up seemingly overnight.

So did a new travel destination. A 491-room Grand Hyatt (1881 Baoan Nan Road; www.shenzhen.grand.hyatt.com), with bay views, recently opened, joining the ranks of the Kempinski Hotel Shenzhen (Hai De San Dao, Hou Hai Bin Road; www.kempinski.com/shenzhen) and a Shangri-La (1002 Jianshe Road; www.shangri-la.com/shenzhen). Even late-night massage parlors have gone upscale and legit. The Queen Spa (Chunfeng Road; www.queenspa.cn) has sleeping pods, a theater and a juice bar — all for under $15 a night — plus massages that start at about $25.

Affordable luxuries extend to shopping and eating. The jumble of stalls at Dongmen are clogged with pirated DVDs and knock-off handbags, while there are new fashionable restaurants in Shekou, a leafy district with an expatriate flavor. Shenzhen is getting greener, too. The city recently welcomed the first LEED-certified building in southern China: the aptly named Horizontal Skyscraper, billed to be as long as the Empire State Building is tall. — Lionel Beehner

Taishan Mountain in Shandong was included as “World Cultural and Natural Heritage” by UNESCO in Dec 1987.
Taishan Mountain, a typical representative of the Chinese famous traditional mountains, is a mountain with a long history and a special historic status. In 1982, Taishan Mountain was up into the list of State key scenic spots and was formally listed in the directory of World Natural and Cultural Heritage in 1987. It becomes a precious heritage of human being.
Taishan Mountain locates in the east of North China Plain and the middle of Shandong province erecting from the Shandong hills. It is prominent around other hills. The prominent peak, Yuhuang peak, is 1545 meters high and locates in east 117.6 degree, north 36.16 degree. The south of Taishan Mountain is higher than the north. Its south foot of mountain begins from Tai’an city and its north foot of mountain stops in Jinan City, the distance between which is 60kms. In Taishan Mountain, the transportation is convenient with the Jinghu railway passing by in the west. In its north is Jinan city, which has another name of “spring city”. The distance between Taishan Mountain and Qubu is 70kms. Many roads and railways such as Taifei, Taixin, Taining, and Taiji meet in Tai’an city, which just locates in the south of Taishan Mountain.
Taishan Mountain is in a superior geographic location with abundant water and thermal resources, and its climate belongs to the warm temperate zone half wetness monsoon climate. As regard to its historic position, in the ancient times, Taishan Mountain is a developed region—- in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. As regard to its cultural position, it is the center of Dongyi culture. In the south foot of Taishan Mountain, there is Da Fenkou culture, and there is Longshan Culture in its north foot, it is the center of Qi and Lu. And its transportation is more superior. Taishan Mountain is in a key position where the railway from central plains to Shandong peninsula meets the railway connecting the south and north of the east coast. There are no hills between Taishan Mountain and the capitals in the ancient times as well as the developed regions. This superior condition helps Taishan Mountain gain the first position among the Five Famous Mountains in China.
As a mountainous scenic spot, Taishan Mountain has high values in term of aesthetics and science, especially the aesthetic value, which is the foundation for Taishan Mountain becoming a famous mountain in the history and the world natural and cultural heritage today. For thousands of years, during the process of studying on Taishan Mountain in terms of adoration, taste, religion and science, the people has created extremely abundant and valued Taishan scenic culture. Moreover, in the Taishan scenic culture, the natural scene plays the key role with the literacy scene assisting. The nature and culture penetrate into each other. Here we can see the philosophy, aesthetics and science idea about the harmonious development of Sky, Ground and Human beings. Thereby, either from the point of time or space, Taishan Mountain contains extremely abundant contents with high aesthetic, science and historic value. We can say that Taishan Mountain is the symbol of spiritual culture of China and the unique heritage of the world.

Chinese traditional painting dates back to the Neolithic Age about 6,000 years ago. The excavated colored pottery with painted human faces, fish, deer and frogs indicates that the Chinese began painting as far back as the Neolithic Age. Over the centuries, the growth of Chinese painting inevitably reflected the change of time and social conditions. From Primitive to Modern.

A painted pottery basin

In its earliest stage, Chinese prehistoric paintings were closely related to other primitive crafts, such as pottery, bronzeware, carved jade and lacquer. The line patterns on unearthed pottery and bronzeware resemble ripples, fishing nets, teeth or frogs. The animal and human figures, succinct and vivid, are proofs to the innate sensitivity of the ancient artists and nature.

A rock painting

Paintings or engravings found on precipitous cliffs in Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou in Southwest China; Fujian in East China and Mount Yinshan in Inner Mongolia; Altai in China’s extreme west and Heihe in the far north, are even more ancient. Strong visual effects characterize the bright red cliff paintings in southern China that depict scenes of sacrificial rites, production activities and daily life. In comparison, hunting, animal grazing, wars and dancing are the main themes of cliff paintings in northern China.Before paper was invented, the art of silk painting had been developing. The earliest silk painting was excavated from the Mawangdui Tomb in central China of the Warring States Period (476-221 BC). Silk painting reached its artistic peak in the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD25).Following the introduction of Buddhism to China during the first century from India, and the carvings on grottoes and temple building that ensued, the art of painting religious murals gradually gained prominence.

Grotto mural in Dunhuang

China plunged into a situation of divided states from the third to the sixth century, where incessant wars and successions of dynasties sharpened the thinking of Chinese artists which, in turn, promoted the development of art. Grotto murals, wall murals in tomb chambers, stone carvings, brick carvings and lacquer paintings flourished in a period deemed very important to the development of traditional Chinese painting The Tang Dynasty (618-907) witnessed the prosperity of figure painting, where the most outstanding painters were Zhang Xuan and Zhou Fang. Their paintings, depicting the life of noble women and court ladies, exerted an eternal influence on the development of shi nu hua (painting of beauties), which comprise an important branch of traditional Chinese painting today.

Painting of beauties

Beginning in the Five Dynasties (907-960), each dynasty set up an art academy that gathered together the best painters throughout China. Academy members, who were on the government payroll and wore official uniforms, drew portraits of emperors, nobles and aristocrats that depicted their daily lives. The system proved conducive to the development of painting. The succeeding Song Dynasty (960-1127) developed such academies into the Imperial Art Academy.

Landscape painting

During the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) the “Four Great Painters” — Huang Gongwang, Ni Zan, Wei Zhen and Wang Meng — represented the highest level of landscape painting. Their works immensely influenced landscape painting of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.The Ming Dynasty saw the rise of the Wumen Painting School, which emerged in Suzhou on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Keen to carry on the traditions of Chinese painting, the four Wumen masters blazed new trails and developed their own unique styles.When the Manchus came to power in 1644, the then-best painters showed their resentment to the Qing (1644-1911) court in many ways. The “Four Monk Masters” — Zhu Da, Shi Tao, Kun Can and Hong Ren — had their heads shaved to demonstrate their determination not to serve the new dynasty, and they soothed their sadness by painting tranquil nature scenes and traditional art. Yangzhou, which faces Suzhou across the Yangtze River, was home to the “Eight Eccentrics” – the eight painters all with strong characters, proud and aloof, who refused to follow orthodoxy. They used freehand brushwork and broadened the horizon of flower-and-bird painting. By the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, Shanghai, which gave birth to the Shanghai Painting School, had become the most prosperous commercial city and a gathering place for numerous painters. Following the spirit of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, the Shanghai School played a vital role in the transition of Chinese traditional painting from a classical art form to a modern one. The May 4th Movement of 1919, or the New Culture Movement, inspired the Chinese to learn from western art and introduce it to China. Many outstanding painters, led by Xu Beihong, emerged, whose paintings recognized a perfect merging of the merits of both Chinese and Western styles, absorbing western classicism, romanticism and impressionism. Other great painters of this period include Qi Baishi, Huang Binhong and Zhang Daqian. Oil painting, a western art, was introduced to China in the 17th century and gained popularity in the early 20th century. In the 1980s Chinese oil painting boomed.

New Year Painting

Then came popular folk painting — Chinese New Year pictures pinned up on doors, room walls and windows on the Chinese New Year to invite heavenly blessings and ward off disasters and evil spirits – which dates back to the Qin and Han dynasties. Thanks to the invention of block printing, folk painting became popular in the Song Dynasty and reached its zenith of sophistication in the Qing. Woodcuts have become increasingly diverse in style, variety, theme and artistic form since the early 1980s. Classification of Chinese Traditional Painting

Four treasures of the study

Traditional Chinese painting has its special materials and tools, consisting of brushes, ink and pigments, xuan paper, silk and various kinds of ink slabs. Based on different classification standards, Chinese traditional painting can be divided into several groups, as follows:

1. Techniques
According to painting techniques, Chinese painting can be divided into two styles: xieyi style and gongbi style. Xieyi, or freehand, is marked by exaggerated forms and freehand brushwork. Gongbi, or meticulous, is characterized by close attention to detail and fine brushwork. Freehand painting generalizes shapes and displays rich brushwork and ink techniques.

2. Forms
The principal forms of traditional Chinese painting are the hanging scroll, album of paintings, fan surface and long horizontal scroll. Hanging scrolls are both horizontal and vertical, usually mounted and hung on the wall. In an album of paintings the artist paints on a certain size of xuan paper and then binds a number of paintings into an album, which is convenient for storage. Folding fans and round fans made of bamboo strips with painted paper or silk pasted on the frame. The long, horizontal scroll is also called a hand scroll and is usually less than 50 centimeters high but maybe up to 100 meters long.

3. Subjects
Traditional Chinese paintings can be classified as figure paintings, landscapes and flower-and-bird paintings. Landscapes represent a major category in traditional Chinese painting, mainly depicting the natural scenery of mountains and rivers. The range of subject matter in figure painting was extended far beyond religious themes during the Song Dynasty (960-1127). Landscape painting had already established itself as an independent form of expression by the fourth century and gradually branched out into the two separate styles: blue-and-green landscapes using bright blue, green and red pigments; and ink-and-wash landscapes relied on vivid brushwork and inks. Flower-and-bird painting deviated from decorative art to form its own independent genre around the ninth century. Traditional Chinese painting, poetry, calligraphy, painting and seal engraving are necessary components that supplement and enrich one another. “Painting in poetry and poetry in painting” has been a criterion for excellent works. Inscriptions and seal impressions help explain the painter’s ideas and sentiments and also add beauty to the painting.