Traditional Painting 

An important part of the country'scultural heritage, the traditional Chinese painting is distinguished from Western art in that it is executed on xuan paper (or silk) with theChinese brush, Chinese ink and mineral and vegetable    pigments. Chinese traditional painting dates back to the Neolithic Period about six thousand years ago. The colored pottery with painted animals, fish, deer, and frogs excavated in the 1920s indicate that during the Neolithic Period the Chinese had already started to use brushes to paint. Chinese traditional painting is highly regarded throughout the world for its theory, expression, and techniques. According to the means of expression, Chinese painting can be divided into two categories: the Xieyi School and the Gongbi School. The Xieyi School is marked by exaggerated forms and freehand brush work. The Gongbi School is characterized by close attention to detail and fine brush work.

 

 

Chinese Calligraphy

Calligraphy is not only a practical technique for writing Chinese characters, but also a unique Oriental art of expression and a branch of learning or discipline as well. As a branch of learning it is rich in content, including the evolution of writing styles, development and rules of technique, history of calligraphy, calligraphers and their inheritance in art, and evaluation of calligraphy as a work of art. This branch of learning is wide ranging and deep, forming an important part of Chinese culture. 

 

Porcelain and Pottery

Chinese pottery and porcelain has been admired, sought after, fought over, and emulated throughout the history of the civilized world. In form, color, and technique, China led the world in the ceramic arts. Its perfection of hard paste porcelain in the Ming Dynasty followed a fascinating record of ceramic production that is traceable back to 5,000 B.C. Chinese Ceramics range from construction materials such as bricks and tiles to hand-built pottery vessels fired in bonfires or kilns to the sophisticated porcelain wares made for the imperial court.   

 

Seals

A Chinese seal is a seal or stamp containing Chinese characters to prove identity on documents, contracts, art or similar items where authorship is considered important. Chinese seals are typically made of stone, sometimes of wood, and are typically used with red ink or cinnabar paste  

Seals are still used for official purposes in a number of contexts. When collecting parcels or registered post, the name seal serves as identification, akin to a signature. In banks, traditionally the method of identification was also by a seal. Seals remain the customary form of identification on cheques in Mainland China and Taiwan but not in Hong Kong where signatures are required. Today, personal identification is often by a hand signature accompanied by a seal imprint. Seals can serve as identification with signatures because they are difficult to forge (when compared to forging a signature) and only the owner has access to his own seal. Seals are also often used on Chinese calligraphy works and Chinese paintings. Owners or collectors of paintings or books will often add their own studio seals to pieces they have collected. This practice is an act of appreciation towards the work.

As a novelty souvenir, seal carvers also ply tourist business at Chinatowns and tourist destinations in China. They often carve on-the-spot or translations of foreign names on inexpensive soapstone, sometimes featuring Roman characters. Though such seals can be functional, they are typically nothing more than curios.

 

Jade  

Many countries have jade ware culture, but none of them has as long a history as China has. China's jade ware culture has undergone a long process of development from the New Stone Age 10,000 years ago to the present.

A Chinese saying goes "Gold has a value; jade is invaluable." The Chinese love jade because of not only its beauty, but also more importantly its culture, meaning and humanity. 

 

Paper cut

Paper cutting is a traditional art in China which has been making its way along the route of the long history of paper. The kind of art went after the invention of paper in Han Dynasty, once became one of the main forms of arts, and was popular to the people of the time; even in royal families ladies were also judged by the ability at paper cutting.  

No doubt that art come from life and serve life. Paper cuts are very popular in the countryside. The bright colors of red, green or light blue paper cuts provide a strong foil to set off a merry atmosphere. So they are often found in wedding ceremonies or festivals in China. And people like to decorate their windows and doors using colorful paper cuts.

 

Chinese Knot

Chinese knot is a decorative handicraft art that began as a form of Chinese folk art in the Tang and Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) in China.  It was later popularized in the Ming and Qing Dynasty (1368-1911 AD). The art is also referred to as Chinese traditional decorative knots. In other cultures, it is known as "Decorative knots". 

Traditional Chinese decorative knots, also known as Chinese knots, are typical local arts of China. They are a distinctive and traditional Chinese folk handicraft woven separately from one piece of thread and named according to its shape and meaning. In Chinese, “knot” means reunion, friendliness, peace, warmth, marriage, love, etc. Chinese knots are often used to express good wishes, including happiness, prosperity, love and the absence of evil.