Title of Thesis: 
Degree candidate: 
Degree and year: 
Thesis directed by: 
ABSTRACT 
RESCUING LITERATI AESTHETICS: CHEN 
HENGKE (1876-1923) AND THE DEBATE ON THE 
WESTERNIZATION OF CHINESE ART 
Kuo-Sheng Lai 
Master of Arts, 1999 
Jason C. Kuo 
Department of Art History and 
Archaeology 
During the nineteenth century, China, which had always been 
an agricultural nation, suffered from the penetration of the 
industrialized Western Empires. With their much more 
sophisticated artillery, the West defeated China in many wars. 
The Chinese scholar-officials had always viewed foreigners as 
barbarians and were unwilling to learn from them. However, some 
of the scholar-officials sensed that China would languish 
without learning from the West and thus promoted westernization. 
This started the debate on westernization. 
Chen Hengke (1876-1923) was a traditional artist and art 
theorist, who lived to witness the decline of the Qing Dynasty 
and the establishment of the new Republic. At that time, many 
Chinese intellectuals such as Kang Youwei, Cai Yuanpei, Chen 
Duxiu, and Xu Beihong urged the westernization of Chinese 
painting. They thought that Chinese painting could not compete 
with Western painting in terms of the accurate rendering of 
nature, that is, realism. However, many traditional Chinese 
painters refuted the westernization of painting and defended 
traditional Chinese literati painting. Among the latter, Chen 
Hengke was one of the leading figures. He wrote "The Value of 
Literati Painting" to defend traditional painting. A Japanese 
art historian Omura Seigai also wrote a book The Revival of 
Literati Painting to defend Chinese literati painting. This 
thesis discusses the background of westernization, Chen 
Hengke' s life, his opinions on art, and how he defended Chinese 
painting. 
RESCUING LITERATI AESTHETICS: CHEN HENGKE (1876-1923) AND 
THE DEBATE ON THE WESTERNIZATION OF CHINESE ART 
by 
Kuo-Sheng Lai 
Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the 
University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment 
of the requirements for the degree of 
Master of Arts 
1999 
Cl 
MD 
T)q~t c.J Act ~\\~·\oi'-\ C\~\cl A(Ch~Aco\uj'-1 
Advisory Committee: 
Professor Jason C. Kuo, Chair 
Professor Sandy Kita 
Professor Marilyn Wong-Gleysteen 
__________________________________ .......... . 
© Copyright by 
Kuo-Sheng Lai 
1999 
ii 
To My Parents 
iii 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
I could not have completed this thesis without many people's 
help. I would like to thank all the people who had helped me 
but I can only mention some of them here. First of all, I would 
like to thank my advisor Dr. Jason Kuo for his guidance. Second, 
I would like to thank Dr. Sandy Kita and Dr. Marilyn Wong­
Gleysteen, who also spent much time reading my thesis and 
providing many suggestions and corrections. Last, I would like 
to thank my parents for their wholehearted support of my costly 
study of this not-so-profitable major in a foreign country. 
iv 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
Acknowledgements ....................................... iii 
List of Figures ............................................. v 
Introduction ......................................... 1 
Chapter I: Background to Reform ................... . 5 
Chapter II: Chen Hengke and His Circle ............. . 10 
Chapter III: The Debate on the Westernization of Chinese 
Painting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 
Chapter IV: Chen Hengke's "The Value of Literati 
Painting" .............................. . 51 
Chapter V: Conclusion ............................. . 68 
Appendix I: Chinese Texts .......................... . 70 
Appendix II: The Original Text of Chen Hengke's "The 
Value of Literati Painting" ............ . 76 
Appendix III: Translation of Chen Hengke's "The Value of 
Literati Painting" ..................... . 82 
Bibliography .......................................... " 100 
v 
LIST OF FIGURES 
1. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati Painting", 
Page 1. 76 
2. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati Painting", 
Page 2 . 77 
3. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati Painting", 
Page 3. 77 
4. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati Painting", 
Page 4. 78 
5. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati Painting", 
Page 5. 78 
6. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati Painting", 
Page 6. 79 
7 . Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati Painting", 
Page 7. 79 
8. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati Painting", 
Page 8- 80 
9. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati Painting", 
Page 9- 80 
10. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati Painting", 
. Page 10 . 81 
1 
INTRODUCTION 
Chen Hengke ~-*1ti'l':fr ( 187 6-1923) was an artist and art theorist 
who lived during a time of great turmoil in China. Before the 
nineteenth century, China was largely self-sufficient 
economically and did not conduct much sea trade with the West. 
In order to open trade with China, Westerners had to use military 
force. To protect its interests, China went to war with the 
European countries who desired trade. This led to China's 
defeat by the British Empire after the Opium War from 1839 to 
1843. China was still so weak in military power in 1894 that 
it lost the Sino-Japanese War to the newly modernized Japan. 
The insults that the Chinese suffered led them to agitate for 
reform and rebellion. Large quarters of scholars or officials 
called for revolution. The reformers at that time urged the 
Qing government to westernize their military forces in order 
to survive the threat of foreign powers. However, many of the 
reformers eventually recognized that the military was among many 
divisions that needed to be westernized. 
Westernization thus became the crucial issue discussed and 
debated among the Chinese intellectuals. For example, a 
religious aspect of westernization was Christianity, which had 
never been popular in China. It even influenced Hong Xiuquan 
~~~ (1814-1864), the leader of the Taiping Rebellion 
2 
(1850-1864), enough to claim himself to be Jesus's brother, 
another Son of God. The advent of Christianity signifies how 
greatly Western culture influenced Chinese society during the 
late Qing period. Apolitical aspect of westernization can bee 
seen in, Dr. Sun Yat-senf*~fW (1866-1925), who organized the 
revolutionary movement against the Qing government and 
successfully established the Republic of China in 1911. During 
this long period of revolutionary movement, Dr. Sun studied the 
Western political system and invented a new system for the 
Republic of China based on Western models. While some of the 
Chinese elite were eagerly promoting westernization, a more 
conservative group looked upon those claims as heresy. These 
conservatives still considered the Westerners as barbarians and 
were unwilling to learn Western technology or culture. Yet, 
another group preferred a compromise in dealing with the issue 
of westernization. The most famous phrase for them was 
"Zhongxue weiti; xixue weiyong" t:j:r~~R: tz§~~ffl. This phrase 
means that "Chinese learning should remain the essence, but 
Western learning be used for practical development. " 1 It was 
1 This famous phrase is usually believed to have originated from 
Zhang Zhidong' s ~L#ll Quanxuepian f)]~ .. (Chapter to urge to 
study) . However, according to Sun Guangde f*):J:{;t, Zhang Zhidong 
was not the first person who brought out this idea. See Sun 
Guangde f*~i!, Wan Qing chuantong yu xihua de zhenglun ~1f!f1.$. 
*1CWg§ft8j~mfa (The debate of tradition and westernization during 
the late Qing period) (Taipei: Taiwan Shangwu, 1982}, 161. The 
English translation of this phrase is from Jonathan D. Spence, 
3 
this idea that made the conservatives accept some degree of 
westernization while maintaining their pride in Chinese culture. 
It was acceptable for them that the technnologies of the "Western 
barbarians" served merely for practical use. 
Chinese art did not escape from the storm over westernization. 
Many late Qing intellectuals criticized Chinese painting as 
repetitious copying of the techniques and styles of the old 
masters. They admired the more realistic or true-to-life 
Western painting that they saw. When Western artists were 
influenced by Japanese woodblock prints and began to react 
against realism, many Chinese praised the "old" Western painting 
that had looked more realistic. In this questioning atmosphere, 
Chen Hengke and many other artists and art theorists continued 
to practice Chinese painting to promote this traditional Chinese 
art. Chen Hengke not only practiced the traditional Chinese 
arts of painting, calligraphy, and seal carving, but also wrote 
articles introducing and defending Chinese art. His article 
"The Value of Literati Painting" contributed greatly to 
defending traditional Chinese painting during the time when many 
of the elite urged people to learn from the West. Later art 
critics often said that this article was influenced by a book, 
The Revival of Literati Painting, by the famous Japanese art 
The Search for Modern China (New York: Norton, 1999), 224. 
------------------------......... ..... 
4 
historian Omura Seigai*t11ffim (1868-1927). Many artists or art 
historians today recognize Chen Hengke's contribution to 
traditional Chinese painting. For example, Xue Yongnian, a 
renowned art historian in China, says, "The theories proposed 
by Chen Shizen [Chen Hengke' s zi, used more often than his name] 
in the beginning of the [twentieth] century effectively 
supported the development of the traditionalists."
2 
This 
thesis investigates Chen Hengke's concept of the literati 
tradition of Chinese painting in this drastically changing era. 
2 Xue Yongnian jW:7}c:tj:., "Shij igexinzhong de chuantongpai sanlun" 
i!~J[,JJ~ti='l¥J1.f*fe¥Jifl~)(~lfij (Notes on the traditionalist during the 
reform of the century), in Ershi shiji zhongguohua: chuantong 
de yanxu yu yanjin =+t!t*ccrmm: {l!J*IC!¥J~*IW~~Jit (Twentieth 
century Chinese painting: continuation and evolution of the 
tradition) (Hangzhou: Zhejiang Renmin Meishu, 1997), 238. See 
Appendix I, No. 1. 
______________________ ......... ......... 
5 
CHAPTER I. BACKGROUND TO REFORM 
During the nineteenth century, the Western imperial powers 
penetrated the Far East. At that time, these Western empires 
were already highly industrialized while the Asian countries 
still based their economy on agriculture. When people of these 
two different societies met, they clashed. China went to war 
with England in 1840 over the issue of opium trade. Although 
Westerners came eagerly to China for business, business was 
traditionally considered the lowest profession in Chinese 
society. Chinese divided the professions into four major 
categories, in descending order of status as: scholar-official, 
agriculture, crafts or industry, and business. The Chinese 
considered trading with Western countries unnecessary because 
they had survived well from an agricultural economy. Since the 
Westerners had come to China with the purpose of conducting trade, 
to many Chinese, it even seemed that trading was a favor that 
they granted to the West. 
After China's defeat in the Opium War, the Chinese realized 
the power of the West: Westerners had better artillery, and their 
steam boats could operate without wind. However, these fine 
tools were the result of crafts and industry, only the third 
category of professions in Chinese thinking. Chinese officials 
knew that Western weapons were superior to theirs, but they were 
' l 
' • j 
l 
I 
I 
6 
too proud to learn military technology from coarse Westerners. 
They thought the techniques petty and not worth learning. What 
they thought important were the ethics and morality of 
Confucianism. 
Nevertheless, some Chinese officials acknowledged that they 
had to learn from the West in order to develop. A series of 
debates over westernization thus started. From the time of the 
Opium War till the early twentieth century, Chinese 
intellectuals developed different opinions on the issue of 
westernization. Generally speaking, these Chinese 
intellectuals gradually demanded a wider and wider range of 
westernization. 
After the Chinese defeat in the Opium War, some officials 
started to demand the use of Western artillery and steam ships. 
Later, they proposed that the Chinese should learn 
military-related technologies such as telegraphing, mining, 
mathematics, and astronomy. After Japan defeated China and 
Russia, Chinese intellectuals thought that the Japanese won 
because they had a better political system: a constitutional 
monarchy. Therefore, many Chinese scholars promoted the 
constitutional system. In 1898, Emperor Guangxu~~ (1871-
1908) and reformers such as Kang Youwei ~1-f~ (1858-1931) and 
Liang Qichao ~@=Jm (1873-1929) launched an unsuccessful reform, 
which lasted for a mere one hundred days. This reform targeted 
--------------------................ 
7 
not only the military but also the political and educational 
spheres. The main reason for its failure was that the Emperor 
did not have sufficient political power to carry out his reforms. 
The Empress Dowager Cixi ~ffii (1835-1908), head of the 
conservative forces, was the one who held real political power 
in the Qing Empire. 
In Chen Hengke's youth, the atmosphere of reform had been 
growing. Chen's father Chen Sanli ~-*-=-:lz: (1852-1937) and grand 
father Chen Baozhen ~.*Jll~ (1831-1900) were among the officials 
who promoted political reform. After the failure of the 
Hundred-Day Reform, many Chinese intellectuals turned toward 
revolution. In 1911, the revolutionaries led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen 
overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China, 
the first republic in Asia. People who supported the revolution 
sought the prospect of a better China. However, although the 
old corrupted regime was replaced with the new Western-model 
democratic government, the whole country was still in turmoil. 
Many Chinese intellectuals thought that it was people of the 
old running the new system. Therefore, the reformers started 
a series of New Culture Movements, aiming to re-educate the 
people. Chen Duxiu ~*~~ (1879-1942) was a great thinker and 
reformer at that time. He was also the founder of the Chinese 
Communist Party. He founded Youth~~ magazine in 1915 and 
later in 1916 renamed it New Youth ~~~- It was a major 
8 
publication promoting the New Culture Movement. The Chinese 
intellectuals who promoted the New Culture Movement attacked 
the traditional culture. The May Fourth Movement in 1919 put 
the re-examination of the traditional Chinese culture to the 
ultimate test. It attacked traditional Confucian thought and 
embraced the West. At that time, almost all aspects of Chinese 
culture were re-evaluated. 
The reformers thought that the old Confucian thinking would 
not fit the new democratic society. Since the Republic was 
established, the outdated Confucian thinking had to be abandoned. 
Chen Duxiu said in 1919: 
To embrace Mr. Democracy, one cannot avoid opposing 
Confucianism, [Confucian] morality, chastity, old virtue, 
and old politics. To embrace Mr. Science, one cannot avoid 
opposing old art and old religion. To embrace both Mr. 
Democracy and Mr. Science, one cannot avoid opposing the 
national essence and the old literature. 3 
Lu Xun ~,llidl881-1936), who was one of the greatest writers 
and thinkers of that time, published a work of fiction, "A 
Madman's Diary", in New Youth in 1918. In this work of fiction, 
he used cannibalism as a metaphor for Confucian morality: 
3 Chen Duxiu ~JR~3§:, "Xinqingnian zui 'an zhi dabianshu" ~W1f 
W~~~3WfW (A letter defending New Youth against charges), 
Xinqingnian (January 1919). See Appendix I, No. 2. 
9 
In ancient times, as I recollect, people often ate human 
beings, but I am rather hazy about it. I tried to look this 
up, but my history has no chronology and scrawled all over 
each page are the words: "Confucian Virtue and Morality." 
Since I could not sleep anyway, I read intently half the 
night until I began to see words between the lines. The 
whole book was filled with the two words--"Eat people." 4 
Neither was painting immune to this attack on Chinese 
philosophy. Confucianism had always been the central 
philosophy for the thinking and conduct of a Chinese 
scholar-official. This kind of attack on Confucianism almost 
negated the whole essence of Chinese culture. However, when 
the reformers who promoted westernization attacked Chinese 
traditional painting, many traditional painters fought to 
preserve their tradition. Beijing, where the Ming and Qing 
rulers resided, had many scholars who spoke for the old tradition. 
Among these, Chen Hengke was one of the leaders. 
4 Lu Xun ~-ill, "Kuangren rij i" HAB~C. (A madman's diary}, in The 
Complete Stories of Lu Xun, trans. Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang 
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981}, 4. See Appendix 
I, No. 3. 
10 
CHAPTER II. CHEN HENGKE AND HIS CIRCLE 
As an artist, Chen Hengke mastered not only painting, but 
also calligraphy and seal carving. Chen Hengke used many 
different names. His zi ¥was Shizeng grptf, by which he was 
called during his early childhood. Even as he grew, he continued 
to use this name. Therefore, his friends usually called him 
Shizeng, and he also signed his works with this name. He also 
called himself Xiudaoren t:Jili.A or Xiuzhe :f7j1!§-. The name 
Xiudaoren might reveal his life philosophy or his opinion about 
his era. Xiu means decaying. Daoren ~)(usually indicates a 
man with high virtue, a taoist, or a monk. Xiudaoren could be 
interpreted as a decaying man with good virtue. Xiuzhe, which 
is usually a name that an old man calls himself, might be an 
abbreviation of Xiudaoren. When Chen Hengke died in 1923 at 
the young age of 47, his teacher Wu Changshuo ~§Hi~ (1844-1927) 
was extremely upset and wrote the four-character inscription 
"Xiuzhe Buxiu" ;f7j~::f;f7j for the catalogue of Chen's calligraphy. 
The inscription means literally the man of decay never decays. 
Chen Hengke's studios have many different names such as 
Huai tang ~¥, Tangshiyi ~£~, Anyangshishi 3(~£:¥:, and 
Rancangshi ~~:¥:. Chen once stayed in his friend Zhang 
Disheng's ~~~place where there was a huai (locust) tree in 
front of his room. This was how he got the studio name Huai tang. 
-11 
In a prologue to a poem, Chen even recorded the genesis of this 
studio name. He said, "Zhang Disheng 1 in the east of his house, 
built a room to accommodate me. There is a huai tree in front 
the room. Therefore I call it Huaitang, and write this poem 
to express my feelings about it. " 5 He also had the studio name 
Rancangshi because he admired his teacher Wu Changshuo very much. 
Cang ~is a character used by Wu Changshuo in one of his names, 
Cangshi ~15- Since most of the names of Chen Hengke show his 
close relationship with his friends and teacher, one can assume 
that his painting circle played a very important role in his 
relatively short life. 
Chen Hengke was born into a family of the scholar-official 
class during the late Qing Dynasty. His grand father Chen 
Baozhen was once the governor of Hunan. His father Chen Sanli 1 
a famous poet, was once the Chief of the Ministry of Civil 
Personnel. Since both his father and grandfather were 
high-ranking officials in the Qing government, one may assume 
that Chen Hengke's family would be relatively conservative. 
However, this was not the case at all. Chen Baozhen and Chen 
Sanli devoted themselves whole-heartedly to promoting political 
5 See Qi Shi ~15, "Chen Hengke de shishuhuayin" ~-*1iJ'!~I¥Jft~it 
~p (Chen Hengke's poetry, calligraphy, painting, and seal), 
Zhongguo Meishu no. 7 (March 1988): 68. See Appendix I, No. 
4. 
12 
reform. Tan Sitong ~~~ (1865-1898), a famous martyr of the 
"Hundred Days of Reform", was once a subordinate of Chen Baozhen. 
The reformer Liang Qichao was also a leading figure of the 
"Hundred Days of Reform", so much so that historians have called 
it the "Kang-Liang Reform", in memory of Liang and of Kang Youwei. 
Liang was once invited to run the school Shiwu Xuetang ~~ 
~~, established by Chen Baozhen and Chen Sanli in Changsha in 
1897, one year before the reform movement. Liang Qichao 
recorded how he was invited to serve in Chen Baozhen's court 
in "The Biography of Tan Sitong": 
At that time Mr. Chen Baozhen was the Governor of Hunan. 
His son Sanli assisted him. They took the progress of Hunan 
as their own responsibility. In June 1897 .... Mr. Chen, 
together with his son, and former Educational Commissioner 
Jiang Junbiao [YI15~J planned to gather all the elite to 
run [the provinc~] .... So [they] invited me [and another 
two persons] to be instructors at the school. He [Tan 
Sitong] was also invited by Mr. Chen. So he gave up his 
position and then followed [Chen] . 6 
6 The names of the other two people who were also invited to teach 
are replaced by squares in the book. There is no footnote 
explaining this. However, it is possible that the names were 
deleted to avoid causing these people trouble. Liang Qichao 
W;,@Jm, "Tan Sitong Zhuan" ~Pi!!~{$. (The Biography of Tan Sitong), 
in Wuxu Zhengbianji DGBG!&~~c (Recordings of the revolt of Wuxu), 
collected in Liang Qichao, Yinbingshi Zhuanji vol. III ~{7]\ 
El[$~m-~ ( Yinbingshi special collection volume II I) (Taipei: 
,\ 
' 
13 
After the failure of the Kang-Liang Reform, Liang Qichao fled 
to Japan. Because Chen Baozhen and Chen Sanli supported the 
reform movement, they were discharged by the conservative 
Empress Dowager Cixi after her restoration. After the loss of 
his government position and the death of his father, Chen Sanli 
moved the family to Nanj ing and established a school there. Chen 
Hengke' s son Chen Fenghuai ~J!!:f;j'['J remembered the early school: 
After Grandfather moved the whole family to Jinling 
[Nanjing), ... he established a school at home again. 
Besides the Four Books and Five Classics, the courses also 
included Math, English, Music, and Painting. There were 
also facilities for both literature and physical education. 
This school was convenient for the children in our family 
and also for the children of relatives or friends (such as 
the brothers Mao Yisheng ~t)~, Mao Yinan ~t)'WJ) to attend. 
The sixth uncle and other uncles all established their basic 
study of Chinese in this kind of environment. 7 
Chen Hengke grew up in such a family. His father and grandfather 
were traditional scholar-officials and at the same time 
Taiwan Zhonghua Shuju, 1978), 106-107. See Appendix I. No. 5. 
7 Chen Fenghuai ~-*:li'[!l interview by Chen Xiaocong ~JI!'J'f~, Spring 
1980. See Jiang Tianshu ~:;Rifj, Chen Yinke Xiansheng Biannian 
Shij i ~*~'[~)t;~tlff.~~ (Chronology of Mr. Chen Yinke) (Shanghai: 
Shanghai Guji, 1981), 21. See Appendix I, No. 6. 
------------------------................. ... 
14 
reformers sought Western learning. Chen could thus receive both 
the new kind of education, which made him familiar with Western 
learning, and the traditional Chinese one. In this scholarly 
atmosphere, it is not surprising that Chen Hengke became a poet, 
calligrapher, and painter, or that his brother Chen Yinke~* 
~1~ (1890-1969) became a renowned historian. 
Chen Hengke's father thought that it was not enough for his 
children to study Western learning at horne. With his father's 
encouragement in 1898, Chen Hengke passed the entrance exam to 
the Affiliated Mining and Railroad School (Kuangwu Tielu Xuetang 
~~m~~~1itl of the Jiangnan Army School (Jiangnan Lushi Xuetang 
There, Lu Xun ;t,ll (1881-1936), a great modern 
Chinese thinker and writer, was also studying. In 1901, Chen 
entered a French missionary school in Shanghai. In 1902, he 
went to Japan for further studies with his brother Chen Yinke. 
During the 19th century, Japan was also threatened by Western 
powers. However, historically, the Japanese tended to accept 
foreign cultures more easily than the Chinese. During Chen 
Hengke' s time, Japan, was already more highly westernized than 
China. After China's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, more and 
more Chinese started to recognize the importance of Western 
learning. Therefore, it is not surprising that Chen Hengke went 
to Japan. 
On the way to Japan, Chen Hengke happened to take the same 
15 
ship with Lu Xun. After they arrived, both went to the Kobun 
Shoin 5b3t~~ school in Tokyo to study Japanese. Lu Xun also 
loved art very much. Therefore, he naturally became good 
friends with Chen. Later Chen Hengke entered Tokyo Advanced 
Normal School O!Uj'~JWJ~BffiifB~~) to study Natural History and Lu 
Xun entered the Sendai Medical School ({ll!EJ'U~WF~~t;;() . At this 
time, Chen Hengke also met Li Shutong:$;fSJEJ (1879-1942), a famous 
painter, calligrapher, and musician, who went to Japan in 1905, 
to study Western art in the Ueno Art School (__t!f~tfiltrWF~~t;;() . 
Li Shutong later became a monk and is now known by his Buddhist 
name of Hongyi Dashi 5b-7cBffi. Although Chen preferred to use 
Chinese media while Li was studying Western art, they became 
very good friends. 
During his eight years stay in Japan, Chen Hengke must have 
been exposed to various kinds of art including Japanese and 
Western. He knew very well the trend of art in the Western world 
in his time. So, he must have known that "that trend" was not 
toward realism at all. His knowledge of Western art can be seen 
in the articles that he published after he returned to China. 
In 1912 Chen published a translation of a work concerning the 
trends of Western art in the periodical for the alumni of Nantong 
Teacher, s School. This work was entitled 11 The Recent Situation: 
Painting in Europe and the West, (Ouxi huajie zuijin zhi 
zhuangkuang ~XiffiilJl!."iriliZ~¥5t.l . When some people were condemning 
16 
Chinese art and embracing Western art, he could stand out and 
defend Chinese art precisely because of his rich knowledge of 
Western art. When producing art works in traditional Chinese 
media, Chen Hengke also wanted people in China to know the current 
art trends in the West so that the Chinese would not become lost 
in the debate on westernization. Chen Hengke did not fail to 
mention Western art in his other publications about Chinese art 
either. 
After Chen went back to China in 1909, he devoted himself 
to art and education. He served in the Jiangxi Provincial 
Education Bureau immediately after his return. Then Zhang Jian 
1&1f invited him to teach Natural History in the Nantong 
Teacher's School. During his stay in Nantong, Chen often went 
to see Wu Changshuo, from whom Chen Hengke learned very much 
and who he admired greatly. 
After a short stay in Changsha where he taught in the Changsha 
First Teacher's School, Chen moved to Beijing in 1913. There, 
he would spend most of his life. In Beijing, he served in the 
Ministry of Education and taught Chinese Painting in different 
schools. Chen Hengke, of course, made many artist-friends. Li 
Chu-tsing comments on Chen's significance in the Beijing art 
circle: "Because of his [Chen Hengke' s] background and position 
as a member of the Ministry of Education, he attracted a 
considerable following, and was the central figure in a literary 
17 
and artistic circle in Beijing during the early years of the 
Republic. " 8 
During his stay in Beijing, Chen Hengke met Qi Baishi ~ 
BE (1864-1957), one of the most internationally recognized 
Chinese painters of the twentieth century. Qi Baishi owed much 
of his great success to Chen Hengke 1 s help. In his autobiography, 
he recorded his meeting with Chen Hengke in 1917: 
I tagged the price for my paintings and seals in the paper 
shop south of Liulichang [~~~] . Chen Shizeng saw the 
seals carved by me [there] and then purposely came to Fayuan 
Temple [$;~-=B'=] to visit me. After a small chat we became 
very good friends. Shizeng . had great fame in the 
capital area. I took out Handscroll of Mount Jie [ {ygll! 
[I]~] from the traveling box and asked him to judge it. He 
said that my painting 1 s character is very lofty, but there 
are some parts that still cannot reach excellence. 
He urged me to create a style of my own and not to fawn on 
the vulgar. 9 
8 Li Chu-tsing, "Traditional Painting Development During the 
Early Twentieth-Century," in Twentieth-Century Chinese 
Painting, ed. Kao Mayching (Hong kong: Oxford University Press, 
1988)' 79. 
9 Liulichang was a place in Beijing where many art dealers 
gathered to sell antiques and art works such as painting and 
calligraphy. Qi Baishi j1f8E, "Baishilaoren zishu" B=Ei~A§ 
illt (Memoirs of Qi Baishi), in Baishilaoren zishu (Changsha: 
Yuelu Shushe, 1986), 70-71. See Appendix I, No. 7. 
18 
Before Qi Baishi met Chen Hengke, his paintings were sold at 
a very low price. When Chen Hengke advised him to create his 
own style. Qi Baishi created a style he called "red flower ink 
leaf" ~I:ft~~- Qi Baishi said: 
As for my painting at that time, I was learning the 
austere-leisure ff.J~ style of Bada Shanren )\*WA [Zhu Da 
5Kit, 1626-1705]. People in Beijing did not favor it. 
Except Chen Shi zeng, there were almost no other people who 
understood my painting. As for the price of my painting, 
one fan leaf cost two yuan of silver coin, which was less 
than half of the price of works by other contemporary 
painters at that time. Even so, very few people came to 
buy. I had a very solitary life. Shizeng advised me to 
create new ideas of my own and to change my way of painting. 
I listened to him and created the "red flower ink leaf" style. 
I originally painted plum blossoms in the manner of Yang 
Buzhi m:fmz [1097-1171] (Wujiu ~~) of the Song Dynasty. 
Yin Hebo 'jtfDfB [Qing Dynasty] ( Jinyang :~i'iJ~), whose hometown 
is the same as mine, was famous for painting plum in Hunan. 
He was the one who learned Yang Buzhi's style. I also 
consul ted his brush-concept. Shizeng said, "To paint with 
gongbi style would be laborious and plain-looking at the 
same time." I listened to his words again and changed my 
, I 
' 
'' 
'' 
19 
manner of painting. 10 
In 1922, Chen Hengke brought Qi's paintings and his own to an 
exhibition in Tokyo, Japan. Their paintings were a triumph. 
All the paintings of Qi Baishi were sold at prices much higher 
than their previous prices in China. Qi Baishi said: 
Chen Shizeng carne [back] from Japan. All the paintings that 
he took were sold. In addition, the price was especially 
magnificent. Each of my paintings sold at one hundred yuan 
JC of silver. Landscapes were even more expensive. 
Paintings on paper two feet long sold for up to two hundred 
and fifty yuan of silver. It was inconceivable to get this 
kind of good price in China. It was also said that some 
Frenchmen in Tokyo selected some paintings of Shizeng and 
mine for the Paris Art Exhibition. The Japanese even wanted 
to make a film about our lives and work to show in the Tokyo 
Art Academy *JltfiV!tr~. All these were things inconceivable 
before. After the exhibition in Japan, many foreigners 
came to Beijing to buy my paintings. Then numerous antique 
ghosts [dealers] of Liulichang, who wanted to speculate, 
asked for my paintings. The vulgar who liked to pretend 
to be elegant people also came to ask me to paint. From 
this time on, my sales of paintings became more and more 
10 Ibid, 7 5. See Appendix I, No. 8. 
20 
abundant. All these are because of Chen Shizeng's favor 
of promoting me. I will never forget him. 11 
Mei Lanfang ~Hm7J (1894-1961), the greatest figure of 20th 
century Beijing opera (Peking opera), also recorded artists' 
gathering where Chen Hengke participated: 
During the time when I was studying painting with Mr. Wang 
Mengbai .:E~B [Wang Yun .:E~, 1888-1934], earlier or later, 
I also met many famous painters, such as Chen Shizeng, Jin 
Gongbei ~~~t [Jin Cheng~~' 1878-1926], Yao Mangfu WE 
ft?::.X: [Yao Hua ~E~, 1876-1930], Wang Aishi 13:.~±, Chen 
Banding ~.t:f:T [Chen Nian ~_t1f., 1876-1970], Qi Baishi, and 
so on. In the 13th year of the Republic, my thirtieth 
birthday, these teachers of mine collaborated to paint a 
painting and give it to me as a souvenir. This painting 
was painted collaboratively in the study room of my home. 
The one who did the first stroke was Mr. Ling Zhizhi ~ 
tffil:SZ:. . . . Mr. Yao Mangfu then painted roses and cherries. 
Mr. Chen Shizeng painted bamboo and rocks. Then, Mr. 
Mengbai painted a mynah bird on the rocks. At last, it was 
Mr. Qi Baishi's turn. 12 
11 Ibid, 78. See Appendix I, No. 9. 
12 The date of this occasion is probably incorrect because the 
13th year of the Republic was 1924 1 which was one year after 
Chen Hengke' s death. Mei Lanfang fii!IJ7J, interview by Xu Jizhuan 
§Lf~J2f$, Wutai Shengya ~tJ.1:..M (Life on the stage) (Taipei: Liren 
21 
Although these artists lived their lives in a way very 
different from the literati painters of the past who were 
scholar-officials, they still kept the tradition of the literati 
gathering. In this kind of gathering, these artists would paint 
in front of others, show their works to their fellows, or recite 
poems. So, they might have thought themselves literati painters 
or at least they might have thought that they inherited much 
of the literati tradition. 
Mei Lanfang remembered another gathering when his 
artist-friends were commenting on and composing poems for his 
paintings: 
It was autumn of the lOth year of the Republic. . . . One 
day in the afternoon, I took a luohan portrait from my home 
collection as a reference [for painting] by Ding Nanyu ll 
r¥J::g::g [1547-1621] ([Ding] Yunpeng li~JDI), who was famous for 
Buddhist painting during the Ming Dynasty. At the 
time when I had finished half the painting, Chen Shizeng, 
Luo Yinggong m;¥0 [Luo Chunyuan ft'l~iJv 1872-1924], Yao 
Mangfu, Jin Gongbei, and so on all came. I said, "You came 
at just the right time. Please give me some comments [on 
my painting] . " After I held my breath and concentrated on 
finishing this Buddhist portrait, these teachers all said 
Shuju, 1979), 416-417. See Appendix I, No. 10. 
--------------------......... ......... 
,, 
,, 
" 
22 
I had improved in painting Buddhist portraits. Jin Gongbei 
said, "I want to pick one weakness: The luohan in this 
painting should wear sandals." I said, "What you 
criticized is right. But the luohan has been completed. 
What should I do?" Mr. Jin said, "Let me add the sandals 
for you." He took the brush, and then added to the painting 
a Buddhist rod, from which hangs a pair of sandals. By the 
way, he added a roll of scripture. Everyone praised his 
additions. After Mr. Jin finished painting, he wrote a 
short colophon: 
Wanhua [Mei Lanfang] painted the Buddha, but forgot [to 
paint] the sandals. I made it complete, and added a 
Buddhist rod, so that monks would not complain. 
Xu Boming ~t1B~ was also in my home that day. He took 
the painting right after seeing me finish it. After it was 
mounted, he invited everyone to write poems on it. Mr. 
Shizeng wrote: 
Hanging sandals and wondering freely, 
Don't listen to zheng or pa but listen to the sound of 
the pine. 
Xiuzhe [Chen Hengke] reciting a Buddhist poem, 
Gentlemen please don't feel weird. 
Mr. Mangfu wrote a poem with five characters to each line: 
Where do the sandals go? 
23 
Being worn out is but a usual thing. 
This heart is like these feet 
which were originally naked. 13 
Although these artists did sell paintings for a living, they 
had nonetheless inherited some of the traditions of the literati 
painters of the past. They would hold the kind of gathering 
mentioned above. They painted together. They talked about 
Buddhism, Daoism (Taoism), and Confucianism. They recited 
poems and wrote them on paintings with beautiful calligraphy. 
They must have considered themselves literati painters, not 
professional ones. 
The literati painters of the past usually resented the 
professional painters who served at court or who made a living 
by selling their paintings. Stylistically literati painters 
tend to paint in a care-free style, the so-called Xieyi ~f.l style, 
while the court painters tend to use gongbi I~, which is more 
meticulous and detailed. In 1923, an article about the Beijing 
Art Academy Accomplishment Exhibition appeared in the newspaper 
Shanghai Times (Shanghai shibao _tw~¥~) : 
The teachers of this school are masters such as Wang Mengbai, 
Chen Shizeng, and Yao Hua. These people are good at the 
xieyi tradition. Gongbi does not seem to be their specialty. 
13 Zheng~ and pa ~ are two kinds of string musical instruments. 
Ibid, 417-418. See Appendix I, No. 11. 
----------------------................. 
24 
Therefore their students, being unavoidably affected by 
them, tend to use the splash ink brushstroke [pobi ~~] . 14 
Yao Hua, who was better known as Yao Manfu, was another leader 
of the Beijing painters. Yao Mangfu and Chen Hengke were close 
friends. Many collaborative works by them are left. Yao Mangfu 
also wrote the preface to "The Value of Chinese Literati 
Painting" by Chen Hengke. 
The reporter who wrote the story above seems slightly partial 
to gongbi rather than xieyi. Although xieyi is not a distinctive 
feature of literati painting, the literati painters did often 
use less detailed or less gongbi style because they believed 
the spirit and the implied meaning expressed in the painting 
was more important. However, because xieyi is a less careful 
way of painting, James Cahill says that it hastened the decline 
of Chinese painting during the Qing Dynasty: 
The increasing practice of the hsieh-i [xieyi] manner, in 
the broadest sense of simplified pictures done in relatively 
loose, fast brushwork, was a significant cause-perhaps the 
most significant cause-of the decline that Chinese painting 
14 Li Nanxi ]f.i;i¥J~, "Ji Beijing Meizhuan Chengj i Zhanlanhui"~c 
~tJ?:~~ff\G*l~Jf~ (Report on the achievement exhibition of the 
Beijing Art Academy), Shanhai Shibao l:.w~$~, 4 September 1923, 
sec. 4. Quoted in Kao Ming-fang ~13jj7.:J, "Minchu Meishuj ia Chen 
Shizeng" ~:fJJ~V1Lr*~-*Bffi1W (Artist Chen Shizeng of the Early 
Republican Era), Guoshiguan Guankan (Taipei) no. 12 (June 1992) : 
174. See Appendix I, No. 12. 
----
25 
underwent after the early Ch'ing [Qing] period. 15 
Chen Hengke and his painter-friends in Beijing commanded much 
authority in the art world of China at that time. Through their 
efforts, Beijing became an alternate art center to Shanghai. 
These painters worked hard to preserve Chinese traditional 
painting, while other reformers such as Kang Youwei, Chen Duxiu, 
Cai Yuanpei ~:rct.:g. (1868-1940) and Xu Beihong :f~?l,~ (1895-1953) 
wanted to adopt Western painting. 
Cai Yuanpei was a reformer, aesthetician, and educator. He 
once studied in Germany. He also served as Minister of Education 
for a few years after the establishment of the Republic. He 
thought that the Chinese should learn from the West. Li 
Chu-tsing comments on him that "It was under his [Cai Yuanpei' s] 
influence that many of the new developments in art took place. " 16 
When Cai Yuanpei was the president of the Peking University, 
he organized the Painting Method Study Society Ji~~~~-
Although he was partial to Western art, he still invited Chen 
Hengke and other Chinese traditional painters to teach in the 
society. On the establishment of the Painting Method Study 
Society, Cai Yuanpei wrote a letter to Chen Hengke on February 
15 James Cahill, "Afterword: Hsieh-i as a Cause of Decline in 
Later Chinese Painting," in Three Alternative Histories of 
Chinese Painting (Kansas City: Spencer Museum of Art, University 
of Kansas, 1988), 100. 
16 Li Chu-tsing, 7 9. 
26 
4, 1918: 
Days ago you came to our school to lecture. My colleagues 
were so moved. Now the number of people who registered 
in the Painting Method Study Society already exceed seventy. 
We plan to start very soon. However, the constitution 
needs to be approved by you and then it can be announced. 17 
This letter shows how Cai Yuanpei respected Chen Hengke. Cai 
Yuanpei not only invited Chen Hengke to teach but also asked 
Chen Hengke for his approval of the society's constitution. 
Chen Hengke' s status in this art circle is clearly shown in this 
letter. 
Although Cai wanted to import Western painting methods, he 
could not ignore the traditional painters who were still 
influential in the Beijing area. Chen Hengke was one of the 
leading characters of the Beijing painting circle and this was 
probably one of the reasons why Cai Yuanpei in vi ted Chen to teach 
. h . t 18 ln t e SOCle y. 
17 Wu Meidong :!ffi!:W*, ed., Cai Yuanpei wen]~: j uanshi, shuxin 
~)Ct.g)t~ ~+' ~f§ (Anthology of Cai Yuanpei' s Writing vol. 10, 
letters) (Taipei: Jinxiu, 1995), 441. See Appendix I, No. 13. 
18 For more discussion of Cai Yuanpei' s invitation to Chen Hengke 
to teach in the Painting Method Study Society in Peking 
University, see Zhu Qingsheng *1f~ and Shinaide §l:ffW{!, "Zhudong 
duqli: guanyu Zhongguo huihua xihua guochengzhong de yige shishi 
de yanj i u" .±J!iJ~l{)( : IIJri=Pm*-t~g§ft~f~c!JI¥J-®J§I:Jlfi¥JtiffY'G (Active 
conceiving: a study about a historical fact during the process 
of the westernization of Chinese painting), in Ershi shiji 
27 
When Chen replied to Cai Yuanpei on February 5, 1918, he made 
recommendations about creating the painting society. He said: 
As for how to make it operative, it seems better to appoint 
some advisors to discuss all the methods [of teaching] and 
then start to operate. The capital is the place where the 
intellectuals gather. There is no lack of qualified people. 
If people with wonderful hands for painting can gather and 
discuss, I also would like to follow them and benefit much 
from them. 19 
Although Chen Hengke was one of the leading figures in the Beijing 
art circle, it can be seen from his reply to Cai Yuanpei' s letter 
that he was still very humble. Besides, he had many 
painter-friends. The letter might also show that he did not 
want to act alone, which would not be good for his friendship 
with other painters. 
In 1921, Cai Yuanpei invited Liu Haisu ~!Jwm (1896-1994) to 
teach in the Painting Method Study Society. Liu Haisu was a 
famous twentieth century painter who preferred oil painting to 
traditional painting. At that time Cai Yuanpei was sick and 
stayed in a hospital. After arriving in Beijing, Liu Haisu went 
zhongguohua: chuantong de yanxu yu yan]~n =+t!:!J[.t:j:t~ji: 1.$.*-lt 
l¥J~*IW~~ (Twentieth century Chinese painting: the 
continuation and evolution of the tradition) (Hangzhou: 
Zhejiang Renmin Meishu, 1997), 80-91. 
19 Wu Meidong, 4 4 2. See Appendix I, No. 14. 
__________________ .......... ........ 
28 
to the hospital to see Cai Yuanpei. He remembered the setting 
in Cai Yuanpei's room: 
On the table and the bed were piled many German and French 
books, most of which were on aesthetics. There were also 
a few Japanese books. The most impressive was a 
Leipzig-printed catalogue of Western masters, the binding 
of which is very delicate. 20 
Even in his sickness Cai Yuanpei surrounded himself with books 
about Western art and aesthetics. 
Cai's personal interests are also very clear from another 
record by Liu Haisu's record: 
After two days, I went to the hospital to listen to him 
[Cai] commenting on Western painting. Before I left, he 
gave me a letter, and said sincerely: "There is no good 
place to live around the three colleges of the Peking 
University. Staying in the Dongfang Hotel would be 
expensive and noisy, not suitable for painting, reading 
or thinking. It would be better to live around the Beijing 
Art School. There are many painters. Wu Xinwu ~~ff, Yao 
Mangfu, Wang Mengbai, and Chen Shizeng are all very upright 
20 Liu Haisu ~U$~, "Yi Cai Yuanpei xiansheng" '!'i~7CttfJIG~ 
(Remembering Mr. Cai Yuanpei), in Zishu yu yinxiang: yi Cai 
Yuanpei E:HzltW.~P~ : ~7Cttf (Autobiography and impressions: Cai 
Yuanpei) (Shanghai: Shanghai Sanlian Shudian, 1997), 142. See 
Appendix I, No. 15. 
29 
artists. You can exchange opinions on painting [with 
them]. II 21 
So, Cai Yuanpei talked to Liu Haisu about Western painting. It 
is also interesting that in introducing some "upright" ( zhengzhi 
lEU[) traditional Chinese painters, he included Chen Hengke. 
Also, by using the word "upright", Cai Yuanpei showed that he 
respected these traditional painters. However, it is strange 
to tell an artist that these artists were "upright" without 
saying anything about their art. Although Cai did not mention 
their art, he still said that they could exchange opinions on 
painting. Cai Yuanpei respected these traditional Chinese 
artists but had less interest in their art. After Cai's 
introduction, Liu Haisu became good friends with these 
traditional painters. He remembered them thus: 
Yao Mangfu, Wu Xinwu, Wang Mengbai, Chen Shizeng, Li Yishi 
~~j: [1886-1942], and I all discussed the trend of art 
and literature there [at Liu Haisu' s house]. We critiqued 
the famous works of China and other countries. Very often 
Shizeng did not want to leave until after midnight. We 
looked at paintings, painted our works, discussed lecture 
scripts, and talked about the news together. These men 
had great knowledge and achieved much in art. They were 
21 Ibid, 142-143. See Appendix I, No. 16. 
30 
all more than ten years older than me and took great care 
of me. They accompanied me to Liulichang to buy some 
ancient books and Tang tomb figures. Now there are still 
left a few Tang dancing figures, chosen by Shizeng .... 22 
The Chinese, or more specifically, the Han people before the 
nineteenth century, considered themselves the center of the 
world and their culture as the source of other "marginal" 
cultures. Therefore, they believed their culture to be the one 
and only culture. Without comparison to other cultures, the 
Chinese could not be self-conscious of their "Chineseness". 
Therefore, before the nineteenth century, since the Chinese 
painters had not seen many Western paintings, they could not 
be very aware that they were painting in Chinese media and styles. 
What they did was just painting, they did not think of the term 
"Chinese painting". They probably took little notice of Western 
paintings. Western painting was not any threat to Chinese 
painters at that time. The Chinese painters might even consider 
that Western paintings were not painting at all. However, 
during Chen Hengke' s time, Chinese artists were very aware that 
they were doing "Chinese painting" because of the pressure from 
the West. Since more and more people started to appreciate 
Western painting, these artists felt that it was necessary to 
22 Ibid, 143. See Appendix I, No. 17. 
31 
promote and preserve Chinese traditional painting in some way. 
In 1920, Chen Hengke and his friends such as Jin Cheng and 
Zhou Zhaoxiang~~~ (c. 1877-1954) established the Chinese 
Painting Study Society cp~ii~1itf~-®-, with its goal "to promote 
elegancy and to preserve national essence. " 23 In 1921, Chen 
Hengke published "The Value of Literati Painting." This article 
had made a great impact on the Chinese art world by supporting 
traditional Chinese painters and explaining the value of 
traditional Chinese art. 
23 Chen Chuanxi ~JIHW~, Zhongguo huihua liluen shi t:p~~ti:li:El~na 
~ (History of Chinese painting theory) (Taipei: Oongda Tushu, 
1997), 390. See Appendix I, No. 18. 
________________________ ................. .. 
32 
CHAPTER III. THE DEBATE ON THE WESTERNIZATION OF CHINESE 
PAINTING 
In Chen Hengke's time, many Chinese scholars thought that 
many Chinese painters were just imitating the methods or copying 
the styles established by the old masters. Many people still 
think the same way today. Sherman Lee, a noted scholar on East 
Asian art, says: 
From about 1800 on painting in China became repetitive, 
although interesting work surfaced from time to time. 
Modern efforts in the traditional "individualist" style 
are being increasingly and favorably studied. 
Excellent landscapes in the orthodox tradition, deriving 
from the Four Wangs of the seventeenth century, were also 
being painted. But these add nothing to a general survey 
of the field. 24 
Although people today hold a different view of Chinese painting 
after 1800, Sherman Lee's words are not surprising, given that 
many Chinese intellectuals in Chen Hengke's time agreed. 
In 1919, for example, Cai Yuanpei said, "Painting and 
calligraphy are the treasures of our nation. However, they 
24 Sherman E. Lee, A History of Far Eastern Art (New York: Harry 
N. Abrams, 1994), 502-503. 
______________________ ............. ...... 
-33 
[painting and calligraphy] are imitating the ancients." 25 
During the early Qing Dynasty, the four Wangs, Wang Shimin 3E 
8~®:)( (1592-1680), Wang Jian 3Eti(l598-1677), Wang Hui 3Eii 
(1632-1717), and Wang Yuanqi 3:.l~]IT (1642-1715) stressed copying 
ancient masters. Many of the later painters thus just followed 
tradition. Wang Yuanqi wrote about copying the works of 
ancients in his article "Notes at a Rainy Window": 
The copying of pictures does not equal the examination of 
pictures. When one comes across a true work by an old 
master, one should study it very closely and look for its 
main idea. One must find out how it is composed, how the 
things move out and in, how they are slanting or straight, 
how they are placed, how the brush is used and how the ink 
is accumulated. There are certainly parts in it which are 
superior to one's own art; after some time one will quite 
naturally be in close harmony with it. 26 
Painters who believe that copying the old masters is the best 
25 Cai Yuanpei ~JG:!:.:g., "Wenhua yundong buyao wangle meiyu" Y:. 
{t~lb::f~gj~lf (Do not forget art education in cultural 
movement), Beijing Daxue Rkan, 17 November 1919, collected in 
Wendi ME£3 and Shuiru 1..Ktm ed., Cai Yuanpei meixue wenxuan ~ 
JG:f;-g-~~X~ (Anthology of Cai Yuanpei' s articles on aesthetics) 
(Taipei: Shuxin, 1989), 100. See Appendix I, No. 19. 
26 Wang Yuanqi JE)~Jvr, "Yuchuang manbi" ffi~11~ (Notes at a rainy 
window) . Translation quoted from Osvald Siren, The Chinese on 
the Art of Painting: Translations and Comments (Shanghai: The 
North China Daily News, 1936), 205. See Appendix I, No. 20. 
-34 
way to learn painting would not go out and observe a tree when 
painting a tree. Rather they would study how the old masters 
painted a tree. They did not care much about the "formal 
likeness" of their subject. Hence, Su Shi fli*!f!tt (also known as 
Su Dongpo ~}J:t:E[, 1036-1101), the great painter and poet of the 
Song Dynasty, wrote a poem which has been widely quoted by later 
art critics. 
If one judges painting by formal likeness, 
his opinions are close to those of a child 27 
The Chinese literati painters have a long tradition of 
regarding formal likeness as unimportant. Many painters of the 
Qing Dynasty wrote theories based on the four Wangs' idea and 
this tradition. However, this is the reason the great political 
reformer and calligrapher Kang Youwei argued that Chinese 
painting was in decline. In 1917, the very first sentence he 
wrote in the prologue to his Wanmucaotang Painting Collection 
Catalogue is: "Recent Chinese painting is in extreme decline. 
This is because of the absurdness of painting theories. " 28 In 
27 Su Shi ~$.t, "Shu Yanlingwang Zhubu suohua zhezhi ershou" ~ 
~~~.:E::t.f.fpJT~:tJf~=-gr (Two poetic inscriptions written on the 
flowers painted by the Secretary Wang of Yanling) See Appendix 
I, No. 21. 
28 Kang Youwei "*:fif~, Wanmucaotang canghuamu ;i;*1i1i¥:~1i§ 
(Wanmucaotang Painting Collection Catalogue) (Shanghai: 
Changxing Shuju, 1918), n.p. See Appendix I, No. 22. 
35 
1918, Xu Beihong echoed Kang Youwei's words and said in "The 
Ways to Improve Chinese Painting" that "The corruption of the 
methods of Chinese painting is already in the extreme today. " 29 
Kang Youwei and Xu Beihong were not the only two scholars that 
claimed Chinese art had stagnated. In 1917, Lu Cheng§~ 
(1896-1989) wrote to Chen Duxiu a letter, which was later 
published in New Youth with the title of "Art Revolution": 
Ten years ago, an Italian poet Marinetti published a poetry 
magazine [Futurist Manifesto, 1909], promoting the new 
artistic ideology of Futurism .... Today the literature 
and art of our nation need to be reformed. The situation 
is similar to that. And the corruption of fine art is even 
worse. 
30 
Why did these Chinese intellectuals say that Chinese painting, 
or more broadly Chinese art, was in decline or corrupt? The 
stress on copying the ancients established by the four Wangs 
was not the only cause. Many painters of the nineteenth century 
29 xu Beihong ~?J~, "Zhongguohua gailiang zhi fangfa" r=pmif 
2)(RZ:1J$: (The ways to improve Chinese painting), Beijing Daxue 
Rikan, 23-25 May 1918, collected in Xu Boyang ~18ML and Jinshan 
~ill, ed., Xu Beihong yishu wenji ~~~~Vltr:X~ (Anthology of Xu 
Beihong's articles on art) (Taipei: Yishujia, 1987), 39. See 
Appendix I, No. 23. 
30 Lti Cheng §~, "Meishugeming" ~VjtjlJfi[J (Art Revolution), 
Xinqingnian 6 no. 1 (January 1918), collected in Shen Peng 
~XR and Chen Lusheng ~Jl[Jm~, ed., Meishulunji ~V!tr~~ vol. 4 
(Beijing: Renrnin Meishu, 1986), 8. See Appendix I, No. 24. 
__________________ ........................ .. 
36 
abandoned the four Wangs' rules and created their own styles. 
Many of the Shanghai school painters showed originality in their 
paintings. However, a significant reason that the Chinese 
intellectuals attacked Chinese painting stemmed from their 
perception that Western painting was better. 
During the early Qing Dynasty, Chinese painters looked down 
on Western painting. In fact, they barely recognized the 
Western style as painting at all. Zou Yigui ;~-;fi ( 168 6-17 7 2) , 
a court painter of the early Qing Dynasty, thus commented on 
Western painting: 
The Westerners are skilled in geometry, and consequently 
there is not the slightest mistake in their way of rendering 
light and shade [yang-yin] and distance (near and far) . 
In their paintings all the figures, buildings, and trees 
cast shadows, and their brush and colours are entirely 
different from those of Chinese painters. Their views 
(scenery) stretch out from broad (in the foreground) to 
narrow (in the background) and are defined (mathematically 
measured) . When they paint houses on a wall people are 
tempted to walk into them. Students of painting may well 
take over one or two points from them to make their own 
paintings more attractive to the eye. But these painters 
have no brush-manner whatsoever; although they possess 
skill, they are simply artisans [chiang] and cannot 
37 
consequently be classified as painters. 31 
At Zou Yigui's time, some artists in China already saw many 
Western paintings introduced by the Jesuit missionaries. Since 
the Renaissance, Western artists have invented many devices or 
methods to create the illusion of three-dimensionality in 
painting. The realism of Western painting amazed the Chinese 
at first. However, since SuShi's time, Chinese literati 
painters have never concerned themselves greatly with formal 
likeness. Although Western painting impressed the Chinese very 
much in terms of realism, it did not fit any category of Chinese 
painting. For the Chinese artists, there was nothing more to 
say about Western painting besides realism. So, Western 
painting was tagged as "realism" by Chinese artists. This was 
still true during Chen Hengke's time. 
However, after the Chinese were humiliated by the Western 
empires in the nineteenth century, many Chinese scholars 
promoted the idea of westernization to save the country. 
Painting was not free from this trend. Many Chinese 
intellectuals in Chen Hengke's time thus praised Western 
31 Zou Yigui IB-;f:E, "Xiaoshan huapu" ;j\0-J:e~ (Xiaoshan painting 
manual), in Qinding sikuquanshu zibu ~JE:IZB~~~-TtSB in 
Liuyizhiyilu /\~~-~ (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji, 1991), 733. 
English translation quoted from Michael Sullivan, The Meeting 
of Eastern and Western Art (Berkeley: University of California 
Press, 1989), 80. See Appendix I, No. 25. 
38 
painting. They also criticized Chinese painting as being simple 
sketches and not being faithful to physical reality. As Kang 
Youwei said, 
Before the Song Dynasty of China, paintings were all meant 
to describe physical shapes. Although spirit resonance, 
which means vitality [qiyun shengdong~~it_li.J], was valued, 
no one had ever abandoned pursuing physical resemblance. 
To call court painting ruler painting [j iehua W•J was truly 
inevitable and unquestionable. Today the Europeans still 
follow this method. Since Dongpo Wt.Bz [ Su Shi ~lji):t] 
ridiculously published his lofty criticism, which judges 
painting by the Chan [Zen] standard, saying that if one 
judges painting by formal likeness, one's opinions are 
close to those of a child, it is assumed that to paint a 
horse, one must not stick to appearance alone. Therefore, 
the four masters of Yuan, Dachi :;k:IJB [Huang Gongwang ~ 
0,-~, 1269-1354], Yunlin ~;fi\ [Ni Zan {~3-J:, 1301-1374], 
Shuming ;f;£EJ! [Wang Meng .£~, 1301 or 1308-1385], Zhonggui 
{t:j:l~ [Wu Zhen ~ji, 12 8 0-1354] came out to add their voices 
to support the theory of xieyi and to attack the court style, 
especially ruler painting. 32 
32 Spirit resonance is the first element of the the Six Laws 
proposed by Xie He~~ (457/464-532/549) of the Liang Dynasty 
in his Gu huapin lu ti:ji:Jib~ (A record of the classification of 
ancient painters). Translation of the Six Laws quoted from 
39 
It is clear from Kang Youwei' s words that he thought that Western 
painting and the Chinese painting before the Song Dynasty 
emphasized realism. However, after SuShi, the Chinese literati 
painters departed from realism. 
Xu Beihong also thought that Chinese painting could not 
compete with Western painting. He said: 
Does Chinese painting have any value in art? The answer 
is yes. Chinese painting has value so it can exist. Does 
it have the same value as Western painting? The answer 
is that it is slightly flawed in terms of materialism. 
However, the pleasure [of Chinese and Western painting] 
differs, so it is not necessary to compare them. Where 
does the pleasure exist? It exists in history. Western 
painting belongs to Western civilization. Chinese 
painting belongs to Eastern civilization. What can be 
compared are only art [yi~] and artistry [shufiltj]. However, 
art needs to be transmitted by some kind of material. 
Western materialism can best support art and artistry. 
Chinese materialism cannot support art and artistry. This 
William Acker, Some T'ang and Pre-T'ang Texts on Chinese 
Painting (Lei den: E. J. Brill, 1954) , 4. Ruler painting (j iehua 
~il) is a kind of painting method applied to depicting 
architecture. It is characterized by fine straight lines which 
are accurately drawn with the assistance of rulers. Kang You wei, 
Wanmucaotang canghuamu. See Appendix I, No. 26. 
I! 
'' .:
' I' 
' 
' 
'. 
'' 
' ;1 
40 
is the reason why [Chinese painting] is flawed. 33 
What Xu Beihong meant by materialism is the media and technique 
of painting. But why did he think that media and technique of 
Chinese painting are inferior to those of the West? The reason 
is that he thought Chinese painting could not depict things that 
people see in the world very accurately. And, he thought that 
the purpose of painting was to faithfully represent nature. He 
said, "Painting is to use brush, color, cloth, paper, and other 
trivial things to describe all the phenomena all over the 
world. " 34 What he meant was that since Chinese media and 
technique do not support realism as well as the Western ones, 
Chinese painting cannot compete with Western painting. Xu 
Beihong' s idea of connecting media and technique to materialism 
extends the nineteenth century belief that the Westerners best 
the Chinese only in terms of materialism and technology. Xu 
Beihong's idea is part of the larger notion that "Chinese 
learning should remain the essence, but Western learning be used 
for practical development. " 35 Cai Yuanpei also had the same idea 
on painting. He said: 
33 Xu Beihong, collected in Xu Boyang, and Jinshan, 40. See 
Appendix I, No. 27. 
34 Ibid. See Appendix I, No. 2 8. 
35 Jonathan D. Spence, The Search for Modern China (New York: 
Norton, 1999), 224. 
41 
Chinese painting is closely related to calligraphy and 
often includes the pleasures of literature. Western 
painting is closely related to architecture and sculpture 
and is assisted by scientific observation and 
philosophical thinking. Therefore Chinese painting is 
superior at spirit resonance. People who are good at 
painting are also good at calligraphy and poetry. Western 
painting is superior at craftsmanship and rationalism. 
[Western] people who are good at painting may also practice 
architecture and graphics. 36 
Kang You wei, Cai Yuanpei, and Xu Beihong were among the most 
influential Chinese intellectuals in Chen Hengke' s time. When 
these men of the elite said Chinese painting was inferior to 
Western painting, their opinions had enormous influence. 
How did Chen Hengke respond to this environment? In 1920, 
Chen Hengke lectured in Beijing on "The Development of Chinese 
Figure Painting". At the end of the lecture, he said: 
Nowadays some people say that Western painting is 
progressive and Chinese painting is not progressive. 
However, I say that Chinese painting is progressive. The 
speed of progress from the figure painting of Han to the 
36 cai Yuanpei ~JG:I:tf, "Huagong xuexiao j iangyi" -I~lX~~ 
(Coursebook for Huagong School), in Wendi and Shuiru, 60. See 
Appendix I, No. 29. 
42 
Six Dynasties is mentioned above. From the Six Dynasties 
to Sui and Tang, some progress can also be seen. 
Nonetheless, from Song to the recent era, there is not much 
progress to mention. However, one cannot say that because 
of the pause of [progress of] Chinese painting during the 
hundred years or so from Song until today, Chinese painting 
is not progressive. It is just as if someone paused after 
a long walk. We cannot say he cannot walk just because 
of his pause. Who knows if Chinese painting cannot start 
to progress again in the near future? Therefore I say 
Chinese painting is progressive. But as for whether the 
Chinese painting of today is progressing or not, it would 
be difficult to answer that question accurately. 37 
Although Chen Hengke argued that Chinese painting was 
progressive, he admitted that Chinese painting was not 
progressing during his time. In other words, he seemed to admit 
that Chinese painting had lost the competition with Western 
painting during his time. 
If Chinese painting really could not compete with Western 
painting, how did these men of the Chinese elite propose to solve 
37 Chen Hengke ~1t''l~, "Zhongguo renwuhua zhi bianqian" t:j=tl~l.A 
4mif~~~ (The development of Chinese figure painting), in 
Zhongguo shuhua lunji t:j=t~~~~ifa~ (Anthology of essays on Chinese 
painting) (Taipei: Huazheng, 1986), 255. See Appendix I, No. 
30. 
~-----------------------................. ... 
43 
this problem? Kang Youwei said, 
The art of ink has not been well passed on. Therefore Lang 
Shining [~~~~' Giuseppe Castiglione, 1688-1768] 
introduced Western methods. Someday there should be 
people who become masters by combining Chinese and Western 
methods. Japan has already worked hard to promote this 
idea. Lang Shining should be honored as the founder [of 
the new painting]. If we still stick to the old and do 
not change, then the art of Chinese painting will vanish. 
Today are there not men of the elite who would like to stand 
up to integrate Chinese and Western painting and create 
a new era for the discipline of painting? I am longing 
for that. " 38 
Chen Duxiu, a professor of Peking University, helped lead the 
May Fourth Movement. In founding the New Youth magazine, he 
aimed at abandoning the old and corrupted tradition to establish 
a new culture. He said in a letter in reply to Lu Zheng, which 
was later published in his New Youth with the title "Art 
Revolution: Answering Lu Zheng": 
If one wants to improve Chinese painting, the first thing 
to do is to revolt against the painting of the [four] Wangs. 
This is because, to improve Chinese painting, one cannot 
38 Kang Youwei. See Appendix I, No. 31. 
44 
avoid adopting the spirit of realism in Western painting. 39 
Many Chinese traditional painters at that time also abandoned 
the four Wangs' tradition. However, they usually sought 
inspiration from even earlier masters and tried to create 
personal styles. However, for the same purpose, Chen Duxiu 
thought that the Chinese painters should adopt Western realism. 
In 1919, Cai Yuanpei lectured at the Peking University 
Painting Method Study Society, expressing his idea that the 
Chinese must learn from the West: 
Today is the era when Eastern and Western culture merge. 
we should adopt what the West is good at. Besides, people 
say that in the past the West already adopted Chinese 
painting methods. In the Italian Renaissance, landscape 
was added to figure painting. People called it the Chinese 
School. In France during the time of Louis XV, there was 
the Rococo School, which was golden and splendid. People 
said that it added in the painting methods of our nation. 
And there was a French painter called Manet. He has a 
painting depicting a black and a white man, using only two 
colors. He has other paintings of this kind, similar to 
39 Chen Duxiu ~Jf!1i)*, "Meishu geming: Da Lli Cheng" ~fijtj$$: :a 
§~ (Art revolution: answering Lu Cheng), Xinchingnian JFJf~ 
~ 6, no. 1, collected in Chen Lusheng, 10. See Appendix I, No. 
32. 
45 
the painting of our nation. Western painters could adopt 
things that we are good at. Can we not adopt things that 
the Westerners are good at? Therefore what I expect of 
Chinese painters is that they must also take advantage of 
the realism of the scenery of Western painting, to depict 
plaster statues and pastoral scenery. . . . Today, when 
we learn painting, we should use scientific methods. 40 
Although Cai Yuanpei was not a painter, he had quite a few 
opinions. It is clear in his lecture that he wanted Chinese 
painters to adopt Western painting methods. However, he thought 
that many Chinese scholars were still too proud of their own 
culture to change. To persuade the traditional literati 
painters to Westernize, he pointed out examples of Western 
painters who adopted Chinese painting methods, and noted that 
if Chinese painting had influenced Western painting before, it 
would be acceptable for the Chinese scholars to learn from the 
West now because they would think that these Western painting 
methods originated in China. 
Cai Yuanpei also said that the Chinese painters should use 
scientific methods to paint. One may wonder why he related 
4° Cai Yuanpei ~JCi:ff, "Zai Beida Huafayanj iuhui zhiyanshuoci" 
:{f~c::kii$UfFJi:WrZ~IDt~J:!J (Lecture at the Peking University 
Painting Method Study Society), Beijing Daxue rikan ~c~::k~ 
BfU, 25 October 1919, collected in Wendi and Shuiru, 95-96. See 
Appendix I, No. 33. 
46 
science to painting. However, at that time, people thought that 
the old Chinese learning was not scientific and that this was 
the main reason why China was defeated by the Western powers. 
It was a very popular idea that Mr. De~' the personification 
of democracy and Mr. Sai Jf, the personification of science were 
what the Chinese should learn from the West. Western painting 
using the methods such as perspective looked more scientific 
to the Chinese. This is why Cai Yuanpei said that the Chinese 
painters should use scientific methods in painting. 
It is discussed earlier in this thesis how Xu Beihong thought 
that Chinese painting cannot compete with Western painting 
because Chinese painting cannot represent nature well. In the 
article "The Ways to Improve Chinese Painting", Xu Beihong 
pointed out many ways to make Chinese painting more realistic. 
Many of the methods that he pointed out are Western methods. 
It is clear in the article that Xu Beihong wanted to import 
western painting methods into Chinese painting to improve it. 
When those Chinese intellectuals such as Kang Youwei, Chen 
Duxiu, Cai Yuanpei, and Xu Beihong demanded Chinese painters 
adopt Western methods, what did Chen Hengke say? He said, 
How Chinese painting is going to change and develop is 
unpredictable. In short, as long as there are people 
studying [Chinese painting], there will be improvement. 
Besides, Chinese painting has often been influenced by 
47 
foreign countries. This can be seen in the examples given 
above. Now the chances of exposure to foreign fine arts 
are even more. There must be something that can be adopted 
and absorbed. What is important is to absorb well and 
integrate so as to exploit the existing specialties
41
• 
When Xu Beihong was leaving to study painting in France, Chen 
Hengke said at the farewell party: 
The ways of Eastern and Western painting were originally 
the same. Seeing ancient Chinese painting, there are many 
places identical to foreign ones. I hope Mr. 
Beihong' s journey this time can help the East and the West 
exchange [ideas] and that he can become a world-famous 
' t 42 pa1.n er. 
It is clear in these passages that Chen Hengke was not against 
using Western painting methods. Chen Hengke had been exposed 
to Western learning since his childhood. His eight-year stay 
in Japan let him have more chances to discover Western culture. 
He took a liberal attitude toward Western painting. What he 
41 Chen Hengke ~J.fHir'l~, Zhongguo Huihuashi cp~~i!i.§!: (A History of 
Chinese painting) (Jinan: Hanmoyuan Meishuyuan, 1925), 50. See 
Appendix I, No. 34. 
42 Gong Chanxing ~~~~, "Chen Shizeng meishu huodong j ianbiao" 
~Jj:!gffitf~Vjt}ft§jjjfii~ (Brief time table of Chen Shizeng' s art events), 
in Chen Shizeng huaxuan ~JI:!Bffiitii~ (Selected paintings of Chen 
Shizeng) (Beijing: Renmin meishu, 1992), n.p. See Appendix I, 
No. 35. 
48 
meant in the passage from the A History of Chinese Painting lS 
that since Chinese painting has received foreign influence in 
the past, it is not necessary to set Chinese painting apart from 
Western influence at this time. For Chen Hengke, understanding 
the West and integrating it with the East meant exploiting the 
special skill of the Chinese. In other words, Chen Hengke agreed 
that Chinese painters can learn Western methods to polish their 
own art, but he did not mean to promote Western painting methods 
as a whole. 
However, Chen Chuanxi interpreted these two passages of Chen 
Hengke to mean that, before Chen Hengke wrote "The Value of 
Literati Painting", he demanded Western painting methods be 
adopted. Chen Chuanxi says: 
Chen Shizeng died in 1923. His A History of Chinese 
Painting was published in 1925. The time when he wrote 
it should be before 1919 when he was a professor at the 
Beijing Art Academy. His opinion concerning the 
"adopting" of foreign painting methods is very clear. 
However, later when he was in the Chinese Painting Study 
Society, he changed his opinion. This is because the Study 
Society was aimed at "preserving national essence". 
Besides, he was with Jin Cheng and Zhou Zhaoxiang and had 
very close relationships with them. Jin and Zhou were part 
of the "National Essence School" and all opposed Western 
49 
painting methods. Therefore Chen Shizen changed his 
opinion. 43 
One should notice that the words that Chen Hengke said in Xu 
Beihong 1 s farewell party were words to Xu Beihong. And Xu 
Beihong was a painter who preferred Western painting. Chen 
Hengke 1 swords on that occasion show that, as a Chinese painter, 
he was not prejudiced against Western painting. His words could 
even be a reminder to Xu Beihong that Chinese painting is as 
valuable as Western painting since he thought that Chinese and 
Western painting were similar in many ways. 
Moreover, according to Xu Shucheng, Chen Hengke 1 s A History 
of Chinese Painting was originally the script for his lectures 
in Jinan in 1922. 44 Chen Hengke helped found the Chinese Painting 
Study Society in 1920. When the society was established, Chen 
Hengke must have known Jin Cheng and Zhou Zhaoxiang very well. 
Therefore, it is unlikely that Chen Hengke demanded that Western 
painting be adopted first and then changed his mind after 
establishing the Chinese Painting Study Society. 
On the other hand, it is true that Chen Hengke did not show 
43 Chen Chuanxi, 3 90. See Appendix I, No. 3 6. 
44 Xu Shucheng ~-~' "Chen Shizeng juan" ~_tgffi~~ (Chen Shizeng 
part), in Zhongguo xiandai xueshu jingdian: Lu Xun, Wu Mi, Wu 
Mei, Chen Shizeng juan r:fl~Jj!f~~V!tj*~~: ~ill, ~!0, ~W · ~.t§ffi~W 
(Chinese modern academic classics: Lu Xun, Wu Mi, Wu Mei, Chen 
Shizeng) (Shijiazhuang: Hebei Jiaoyu, 1996), 744. 
50 
much confidence in Chinese painting in "The Development of 
Chinese Figure Painting" and in A History of Chinese Painting. 
Nevertheless, he had gained full confidence in Chinese painting 
by the time he wrote "The Value of Literati Painting". 
51 
CHAPTER IV. CHEN HENGKE'S "THE VALUE OF LITERATI PAINTING" 
Although Chen Hengke earned fame as a painter during his time, 
he is not so well remembered today among the general public. 
However, because of his article "The Value of Literati Painting", 
he is still frequently mentioned when art critics discuss 
Chinese art history of the late Qing and early Republican era. 
In his treatise, he defended the literati tradition of not 
pursuing formal likeness, the notion that was attacked by Kang 
Youwei and other reformers. He also refuted the idea of adopting 
Western realism that was promoted by these reformers. Because 
of this article, Wang Yuli says that "Among the calls for knocking 
down the literati painting in the beginning of the Republic, 
Chen Shizeng was the first painter who stood up to help literati 
painting to regain recognition and [positive] evaluation. " 45 In 
Chen Hengke's previous articles, he often said that Chinese 
painters can learn something from Western painting. However, 
in "The Value of Literati Painting", he never mentioned this. 
Therefore, this article is the most powerful weapon that later 
Chinese painters had against the attacks of people who promoted 
Western art. Also, it is generally believed that Omura Seigai 's 
45 wang Yuli .=E35:1'r., "Huixuezazhi Yanjiu" ~~~~liffJi: (Studies on 
Painting Method Magazine), Xiandai Meishu Jjlfi;~f,!tJ, No. 82, 
February 1999: 53. See Appendix I, No. 37. 
52 
book The Revival of Literati Painting gave Chen Hengke much 
inspiration in writing "The Value of Literati Painting". 
Omura Seigai was a famous Japanese art historian during Chen 
Hengke's time in Japan. In The Revival of Literati Painting, 
he praised Chinese literati painting and denigrated both Western 
and Japanese painting. Like China, Japan during the nineteenth 
century suffered from the threat of Western powers. The 
Japanese also had had a great debate over westernization. 
However, it seems that the Japanese were able to accept Western 
culture more easily. They started westernization earlier than 
the Chinese. Japan even became the place where many Chinese 
young people studied Western learning. Omura mentions in The 
Revival of Literati Painting that the American Professor 
Fenollosa went to Japan and helped to revive Japanese art. It 
was good that Fenollosa could appreciate non-Western art. 
However, Omura considered it a pity that Fenollosa could not 
appreciate literati painting. In Omura's eye, literati 
painting was superior to Japanese painting, such as Ukiyo-e. 
Realism, which was considered the most important 
characteristics of Western painting, was considered by Omura 
inappropriate for either Chinese or Japanese art. He said in 
The Revival of Literati Painting: 
Western painting is more easily appreciated by the eye of 
the vulgar. It is like low class painting, an appealing 
53 
entertainment for the vulgar, using as many techniques of 
natural representation as possible. 46 
Omura Seigai's comments on Western painting are similar to Zou 
Yigui' s comments, mentioned in the earlier chapter. Omura would 
have agreed with Zou Yigui who said Western painting "cannot 
be placed in any painting categories", meaning that it cannot 
be considered painting at all. However, in Zou Yigui's China, 
most of the intellectuals thought as he did about Western 
painting. In both the China and Japan of Omura's time, many 
intellectuals preferred Western painting to Chinese painting. 
Omura finished his book The Revival of Literati Painting on 
January 7, 1921. Chen Hengke published his first edition of 
"The Value of Literati Painting" in the second issue of January's 
· ( · z h · Jt.~mMH:=± · 47 Painting Study Magaz~ne Hulxue az liJii3:.:;j'!';;fl:til,c,) ln 1921. When 
Chen Hengke published his first edition of his article, it is 
possible that he still had not yet read Omura's book. In this 
first edition, Chen Hengke wrote in the vernacular, which was 
46 Omura Seigai **'-fl§~, "Wenrenhua zhi fuxing" 3t.AitZ1i[$ (The 
Revival of Literati Painting), trans. Chen Hengke ~flij·j~, in A 
Study of Chinese Literati Painting (1922; reprint, Taipei: 
Zhonghua shuhua, 1991), 5. See Appendix I, No. 38. 
47 Painting Study Magazine was published by the Painting Method 
Study Society of the Peking University. Many important artists 
and art critics published in this magazine. The magazine sought 
articles by people who promoted westernization as well as people 
who promoted preserving traditional painting. Chen Hengke also 
published several articles in this magazine. For more 
discussion about this magazine, see Wang Yuli, 48-61. 
54 
promoted by Hu Shi ~~ (1891-1962) during the New Culture 
Movement. 
Hu Shi is considered one of the greatest writers and 
philosophers of modern China. During the time of the New Culture 
Movement, he promoted the Literature Revolution and the 
Vernacular Language Movement. Traditional literary Chinese is 
very different from spoken Chinese and is not easily understood 
without sufficient education. Hu Shi thought that by writing 
in the vernacular instead of the literary language, common 
people could be better educated and become more knowledgeable. 
In the modern times, many art theories came from literary 
theories. Shui Tianzhong notes that the Art Revolution promoted 
by Chen Duxiu had much in common with the Literature Revolution. 
He says: 
Many propositions in the "Art Revolution" were 
extensions of and elaborations of the basic perspectives 
in the "Literature Revolution". In the beginning, the main 
arguments proposed for renewing Chinese painting cannot be 
said to originate totally from [the Literature Revolution]. 
But they did often receive influence and inspiration from 
promoters of the "Literature Revolution". 48 
48 Shui Tianzhong Jj(:l(q:t, "Zhongguohua gexin lunzheng de huigu" 
r:pm•:i!jtJ¥JTW!i~i¥J@Jii& (A review on the debate over reform of Chinese 
painting), Meishushilun 8 (February 1983): 180-181. See 
Appendix I, No. 39. 
----------------------------
55 
The main purpose of writing in the vernacular was to let ordinary 
people have the chance to read. However, when Chen Hengke 
rewrote his article in 1922, he chose to write in literary Chinese. 
In his new edition, Chen used "vernacular language" as a metaphor 
for low-class painting: 
Some people may say "Literati painting is too abstruse 
to be understood by mundane people. Why not slightly lower 
the principles [of literati painting] to make it more 
popular?" This is just like compromising classical Chinese 
literature to fit the vernacular language or forcing a child 
who can speak to learn the cry of an infant. 49 
This quote shows Chen Hengke's uncompromising opinion that 
Chinese literati painting is high culture, which must be valued 
and preserved. In this passage, he also attacked the Vernacular 
Language Movement, which was a part of the Literature Revolution 
and the New Culture Movement. By doing so, he was attacking 
one of the sources of the Art Revolution. 
Omura Seigai visited China in October 1921, where he met Chen 
Hengke through Jin Cheng. 50 Because Omura was a Japanese who 
49 Chen Hengke ~J!Hir'[~, "Wenrenhua zhi j iazhi" 3tA:IiZfl{rni (The 
value of literati painting), in Zhongguo wenrenhua zhi yanjiu 
r:pm;;tA.Iizutf~ (A study of Chinese literati painting) ( 1922; 
reprint, Taipei: Zhonghua shuhua, 1991), 9. 
50 Liu Xiaolu ~J~~, "Dacun Xiyai he Chen Shizeng: Jindai 
weiwenrenhuafuxing de liangge kudouzhe" *M~~~O~§ffitf: llif~ 
56 
promoted Chinese Literati painting, he must have made a deep 
impression on Chen Hengke. It is generally believed that Omura 
Seigai's The Revival of Literati Painting influenced Chen 
Hengke's "The Value of Literati Painting". This can be seen 
more clearly in the second edition of Chen's article. 
In 1922, Chen Hengke produced both his rewrite of "The Value 
of Literati Painting" and his translation of Omura Seigai' s The 
Revival of Literati Painting in literary Chinese. He put the 
translation and his own article into one book entitled A Study 
of Chinese Literati Painting. This shows the close relationship 
between Chen's article and Omura's book. Parallelism between 
Chen's new edition of the article and Omura's book can be found 
in many places. This will be discussed later in this Chapter. 
When people of Chen Hengke's time were praising Western 
painting's realism and criticizing Chinese painting's lack of 
the same quality, it was important for the defenders of Chinese 
painting to explain its legitimacy. Chinese painting, as an 
art form, has long been dominated by the literati, the 
official-scholar class. Discussions of Chinese painting, it 
is usual to refer to literati painting. To speak for literati 
painting, both Chen Hengke and Omura Seigai devoted a large 
~:XA:Ii~~l¥1-w.i®I~FJ~ (Omura Seigai and Chen Shizeng: The two 
rivals for a renaissance in literati painting in the recent era), 
Meishushi yanjiu, no. 4 (1996): 13. See Appendix I, No. 40. 
57 
portion of their works to the value placed on disregarding 
physical resemblance in painting. 
In the beginning of "The Value of Literati Painting", Chen 
Hengke defined literati painting thus: 
It is painting bearing the nature and the taste of the 
literati. It is not particularly concerned with artistic 
techniques of painting. It must show the many amusements 
of the literati, which are elements not represented in the 
painting itself. 51 
It is very clear in this definition that technique is not 
particularly important. What is important is whether literati 
painting conveys the feelings or the ideas that the literati 
want to express. Poetry, calligraphy, and painting are 
considered the "three perfections" in Chinese art. They are 
the media for the literati or learned scholars to express 
themselves. Painting is just one. The purpose of painting for 
the literati is not to copy nature but to show what they feel. 
Chen Hengke elaborated this idea in a later paragraph: 
Are the materials used by [professional] painters the same 
as those used by literati? If [the materials] are the same, 
literati use them to express their feelings toward things 
common among people and things of the past and present. 
51 Chen Hengke, "Wenrenhua zhi j iazhi", 1. 
58 
In this way the literati create paintings. These feelings 
can be expressed through literature as well as painting. 52 
In China, although literati do not care much about technique 
or realism, their paintings are valued much more highly than 
those of professional painters. Professional painters are 
considered tradesman with a low status in society. Yao Mangfu, 
a close friend of Chen Hengke, wrote in the preface to A Study 
of Chinese Literati Painting: 
Since the time when calligraphy and painting went their 
separate ways, painting became work for craftsmen. 
Although the classics say that the masters [of painting] 
were not few during the Two Capitals Period [Western Han 
and Eastern Han] and the Six Dynasties Era, most of them 
just followed the established rules and nothing changed. 
It is said that the time when change started was that since 
Wang Youcheng .:E;b:l.K [Wang Wei .:E*f, 701-761] of the Tang 
Dynasty, who merged poetry with painting. Then pleasure 
emerged from the brush .. 53 
For Yao Mangfu, there is little real painting before the artistic 
renderings by literati. This notion of painting had prevailed 
52 Ibid, 3. 
53 Yao Mangfu t!JtrtX:, Zhongguo wenrenhua zhi yanJ~U xu r:j=l~)(.A 
•zutf~Ff (Preface to A Study of Chinese Literati Painting), in 
Chen Hengke, "Wenrenhua zhi jiazhi". See Appendix I, No. 41. 
59 
throughout Chinese history until the latter half of the 
nineteenth century. This is also the reason why Zou Yigui 
thought that Western painting "cannot fit in any painting 
category." When Zou Yigui saw Western painting, he could not 
see anything in it that was needed in a good literati painting, 
such as spirit resonance and the brush method. What he saw in 
Western painting was only realism, which he considered the 
result of craftsmanship. 
What is more appreciated in Chinese painting is the 
expression of literati feelings and thoughts. However, when 
people started to appreciate Western realism and blame the 
"care-free" manner of Chinese literati painting, the defenders 
of traditional Chinese painting needed more powerful arguments 
for the literati stance to win back their audience. Omura Seigai 
said: 
Therefore most of the reformers encourage naturalism .... 
People who think so will understand its faultiness once they 
compare painting to photography. Painting is far behind 
photography in terms of the delicacy and meticulousness with 
which nature is depicted. . . . If faithful representation 
were the ultimate mark of excellence in art, then painting, 
as an the art corresponding to nature, should have become 
60 
extinct after the invention of photography. 54 
This is a very convincing argument. If the purpose of art is 
to copy the nature faithfully, then painting would indeed be 
dead after the invention of photography, for photography 
produces a better representation of nature than painting. 
Omura Seigai spent a large portion of The Revival of Literati 
Painting arguing that painting is not merely copying nature. 
It has other valuable qualities that move people. Chen Hengke 
recognized this point and further asserted in "The Value of 
Literati Painting": 
To speak of photography, although it is faithful to 
material substance, it does involve artistic ideas in the 
selection of objects to be photographed and the design of 
scenes. It also fits the ideals and pleasures of painting, 
not to mention the pure and elegant art, which is the media 
for people to express their spirit and feeling. 55 
Chen Hengke not only recognized the faithfulness with which 
photography represents nature, but also acknowledged that it 
can convey artistic ideas by shooting things differently. Today 
people consider photography not only a recording method but also 
an art. This notion of photography today is very similar to 
54 Omura Seigai, 5. See Appendix I, No. 42. 
55 Chen Hengke, "Wenrenhua zhi j iazhi", 3. 
61 
that of Chen Hengke's in the early nineteen twenties. 
Painting in Chen Hengke' s view is not only a recording method 
but also, something else, and that makes it art. Chen Hengke 
believed that painting developed past the stage of pursuing 
physical resemblance to the stage of not pursuing physical 
resemblance. He said: 
Moreover, the literati's no-pursuit-of-physical­
resemblance is an advance in painting. Why do I say so? 
Let me bring up a simple example. Today when a person 
starts to learn painting, he wants to pursue physical 
resemblance, but cannot do it. After a long time he can 
gradually grasp likeness-the longer the more similar. 
Later he can memorize all the forms of the objects that 
he sees. When he paints freely, nothing will be dissimilar 
[to physical reality]. He does not need to sketch all the 
details and can paint at will. What he paints and he would 
correspond to each other closely. This is because his 
spirit can go beyond the objects themselves. So, he can 
express his spirit through images of objects. There is 
no other reason. The reason is that he can get the main 
points. 56 
If painting evolves from pursuing physical resemblance to 
56 Chen Hengke "Wenrenhua zhi j iazhi", 8. 
62 
expressing human feelings, then it can be said that Chinese 
painting is more advanced. However, this argument by itself 
is not enough. The problem in Chen Hengke' s time was the impact 
of Western painting. He needed to apply what he believed to 
Western painting. Omura Seigai already noted about Western 
painting in The Revival of Literati Painting: 
Western paintings of recent times are not necessarily 
following nature blindly. Some depict impressions and are 
called Impressionism. Some express feelings themselves 
and are called Expressionism. Are these [Western art 
movements] not caused by exposure to the ideal of East Asian 
art ? 57 
Omura Seigai pointed out that the Impressionists and the 
Expressionists were moving away from the faithful 
representation of nature due to the influence of the East. 
Chen Hengke also showed his knowledge of the trend of Western 
art at that time. He said: 
It can be said that Western paintings resemble physical 
reality to the extreme. Since the nineteenth century, 
[Western people] used scientific methods to study light 
and color. They have a deep and fine understanding of 
physical phenomena. However, since recent times, 
57 Omura Seigai, 18. See Appendix I, No. 43. 
63 
Post-Impressionism has gone the opposite direction. It 
does not emphasize objective reality, but lets free [the 
artist's] subjectivity. Cubism, Futurism, and 
Expressionism have appeared one after another. The change 
of their thought proves that physical resemblance is not 
enough to make most art. 58 
Since Impressionism, Western painting has developed toward 
non-realistic representation. If Western artists do not pursue 
realism anymore, why should Chinese artists follow this outdated 
Western tradition? Moreover, in Chen Hengke' s model, pursuing 
realistic representation is the earlier stage of painting. 
Expressing feelings through painting was, to him, more advanced. 
Chen Hengke also mentioned Post-Impressionism, Cubism, Futurism, 
and Expressionism. These modern Western art trends steped even 
further away from realism. This proves Chen Hengke's theory 
that painting developed from pursuing physical resemblance to 
nonrealistic representation. He not only painted his Chinese 
paintings but also noted the trends of Western painting. His 
educational background and his eight-year stay in Japan may have 
contributed to his broad view of world art. 
Although Chen Hengke considered the artist's expression much 
more important than realistic representation, this does not mean 
58 Chen Hengke, "Wenrenhua zhi j iazhi", 9. 
64 
that he considered realistic representation unimportant. 
Since the literati express themselves through the objects that 
they painted, it is still important for the viewer to recognize 
what they paint. Chen Hengke said, 
In the beginner's stage, if one gives up formal resemblance 
pursuing goals high and far-to-reach and if one only talks 
about lofty words without learning basic skills, the 
mountains and rivers, birds and beasts, or grass and woods 
[that are painted] cannot be distinguished. 59 
From this passage one can understand that Chen Hengke thought 
that in the beginning stage of learning painting, mastering how 
to depict nature accurately is very important. He did not 
consider formal resemblance unimportant. After all the 
literati painters have to express themselves through the objects 
that they paint. If the audience cannot recognize things in 
a painting, the painting cannot be understood. Therefore, 
although literati painters consider expression more important, 
they are still loyal to nature to some extent. 
Another important element that separates Chinese painting 
from Western painting is the influence of calligraphy. Many 
Chinese painters believe in shuhua tongyuan iiflt[q]1Jm, which means 
calligraphy and painting have the same origin or are originally 
59 Chen Hengke, "Wenrenhua zhi j iazhi", 3. 
65 
the same. It is commonly believed that this idea was first 
written in Zhang Yanyuan' s *~Ji Lidai Minghuaji ~f-t.:2lii~c. 
Many scholars today still believe that calligraphy and painting 
were originally the same. This idea can be seen in the passage 
by Chen Hengke's good friend Yao Mangfu, which is previously 
quoted in this chapter: "Since calligraphy and painting went 
separate ways, painting became work for craftsmen. " 60 This 
sentence implies that Yao Mangfu believed that calligraphy and 
painting were originally the same. Chinese characters were 
originally pictographs, many of them representing actual 
objects. So, writing, like painting, was image based and 
therefore, many Chinese scholars think that painting and 
calligraphy were originally the same. 
Of course, Chen Hengke did not say outright that calligraphy 
and painting have the same origin, but he did mention the close 
relation between these two arts, which makes Chinese painting 
so unique. What he said was: 
Moreover, the methods of painting and calligraphy 
correspond to each other. Most people who are good at 
calligraphy usually can paint too. Therefore, throughout 
history, many people mastered both calligraphy and painting. 
The brushwork of painting is no different from that of 
60 Yao Mangfu. 
66 
calligraphy. 61 
In addition, in "The Value of Literati Painting," Chen Hengke 
quoted a poem by Zhao Mengfu ~~~ (1254-1322), which says 
calligraphy and painting were originally the same. The poem 
states: "Rocks are like flying-white; trees are like seal script. 
Painting bamboo even requires mastering in the eight methods. 
If one can understand this, he must know that painting and 
calligraphy are originally the same. " 62 This poem quoted by Chen 
Hengke means that to master painting, one must master 
calligraphy first. So, besides pictographs, the 
correspondence of the methods between painting and calligraphy 
also makes Chinese scholars think that calligraphy and painting 
were originally the same. The Chinese brush is a tool for 
literati to express what they think and how they feel. All the 
character of a Chinese scholar builds up within the brush. When 
writing down the words of a poem or an essay, it naturally becomes 
calligraphy. A reader not only reads what literati write, but 
appreciates the calligraphy at the same time. Therefore it is 
important for a Chinese scholar to have an excellent brush. When 
the literati appreciate a painting, they also examine the 
61 Chen Hengke, "Wenrenhua zhi j iazhi", 6. 
62 This quote is from the colophon of Zhao Mengfu's painting 
Elegant Rocks and Sparse Trees (Xiushi shulintu 3§=Eiffit**lil) in the 
Palace Museum in Beijing. 
67 
brushwork. In "The Value of Literati Painting", Chen Hengke 
also stated that spirit resonance (qiyun ~~) and bone method 
( gufa yongbi ~yi;Jfj*) are the most basic and crucial elements 
of Xie He 1 s Six Laws. 63 Since spirit resonance is the most 
important, physical resemblance becomes less so. The stress 
of bone method makes painting and calligraphy closely related. 
These are also the most important two elements that distinguish 
Chinese painting from Western painting. This also contributes 
very much to the debate of westernization during Chen Hengke 1 s 
time. 
63 The translation of the elements of the Six Laws is from William 
Acker, Some T'ang and Pre-T'ang Texts on Chinese Painting 
(Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1954), 4. 
68 
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION 
The debate over the westernization of Chinese painting was 
actually the debate over realism. The reformers Kang Youwei, 
Liang Qichao, Cai Yuanpei, and Xu Beihong believed Western 
realism could improve Chinese painting. However, many Chinese 
traditional painters disagreed strongly. Chen Hengke, as a 
leader of the Beijing painting circle, wrote "The Value of 
Literati Painting" to defend not stressing physical resemblance 
in Chinese literati painting. He quoted arguments taken from 
the writings of ancient artists. He also recognized the impact 
of photography on painting: since photography can preserve 
reality much better than painting, if physical reality were what 
a painter must pursue, then painting should have disappeared 
after the invention of photography. Moreover, he talked about 
the current trend in Western painting at that time, which was 
heading toward abstraction, not realism. 
The Japanese art historian Omura Seigai's book The Revival 
of Literati Painting influenced Chen Hengke very much. This 
can be seen in the second edition of Chen's "The Value of Literati 
Painting". Parallels can be found in Chen and Omura's works. 
Chen Hengke even translated Omura Seigai's book and published 
it with his own article in a new book called The Studies of Chinese 
Literati Painting. This book not only shows the close relation 
69 
of Chen Hengke's article and Omura Seigai's book, but also 
represents the close relationship between Chinese and Japanese 
art circles. Qi Baishi recorded how Chen Hengke helped him 
introduce his paintings in an exhibition in Japan, resulting 
in a big success. This close relationship between Chinese and 
Japanese art worlds during this period is worth further study. 
Chen Hengke was an important figure in the Chinese art world 
during the late Qing and early Republican Era. However, he lived 
a relatively short life. This thesis examines only a part of 
the debate over the westernization of Chinese painting. To 
grasp the whole debate at that time requires broader and deeper 
studies of other major artists and art critics of the time. Even 
though Chen Hengke was a famous artist, he is not as well 
remembered as Qi Baishi today. Chen's short life might be a 
reason. His life ended before he could create a significant 
body of work or creat a very distinctive personal style. 
Although this thesis does not include a discussion of all Chen 
Hengke' s art works, this subject in itself is worthy of further 
study. 
Today the debate over tradition and westernization in art 
still continues in East Asian countries. By studying the 
arguments of Chen Hengke and other art critics during the great 
turmoil of China, one can better understand the history of this 
problem. 
70 
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APPENDIX II: THE ORIGINAL TEXT OF CHEN HENGKE'S 
"THE VALUE OF LITERATI PAINTING" 
Figure 1. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati 
Painting", Page 1. 
76 
Figure 2. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati 
Painting", Page 2. 
Figure 3. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati 
Painting", Page 3. 
77 
Figure 4. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati 
Painting", Page 4. 
Figure 5. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati 
Painting", Page 5. 
78 
Figure 6. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati 
Painting", Page 6. 
Figure 7. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati 
Painting", Page 7. 
79 
Figure 8. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati 
Painting", Page 8. 
Figure 9. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati 
Painting", Page 9. 
80 
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Figure 10. Chen Hengke, "The Value of Literati 
Painting", Page 10. 
81 
APPENDIX III: TRANSLATION OF CHEN HENGKE'S 
"THE VALUE OF LITERATI PAINTING" 
82 
What is the so-called literati painting? It is painting 
bearing the nature and the taste of the literati. It is not 
particularly concerned with artistic techniques of painting. 
It must show the many amusements of the literati, which are 
elements not represented in the painting itself. This is what 
is meant by literati painting. However, some people say that 
when literati paint, they must not be competent in artistic 
technique. Therefore, they [literati] do something 
unnecessary; that is, they do things other than painting itself 
in order to cover up [their lack of technique] . Yet these people 
do not know that painting, as an art, is spirit, thoughts, and 
animation; it is not something mechanical or simple. Otherwise, 
it would be like photographic equipment, from which the 
productions are always the same, like repeating words that have 
already been said many times by other people. Then, what is 
the value of the human being and what is the importance of art? 
What is precious in art is that it cultivates spirit and expresses 
a person's character and feelings. And literati are people who 
have very graceful character and noble thoughts. Their everyday 
cultivation and character are much more noble than that of the 
masses. Therefore, what they express and depict can naturally 
83 
invite people to enter into its wonder, and inspire thoughts 
of peace and grace. In doing so, people rid themselves of all 
mundane ideas. People who look at literati painting, appreciate 
literati aumusements, or sense literati sensibilities, even 
though their understanding of art may be on different levels, 
they must more or less have literati thoughts. Otherwise 
[looking at literati paintings] would be like glancing through 
sceneries and not understanding anything. This is because 
people with the same kind of mind can have the same kind of 
understandings. 
Common people's understanding of the so-called literati 
painting is: it is not concerned much with art [technique] ; the 
proportion of objects is not accurate; it violates the 
conventions held by [professional] painters; it is carelessly 
painted. [They think that the literati] consider ugliness and 
weirdness as proficient, and carelessness as beautiful. 
Experts see literati painting as heresy and just follow the 
common people's view, laughing [at literati painting]. 
Therefore literati painting cannot be appreciated by the general 
public. Moreover, [the general public think that the paintings J 
which are clumsy, unbalanced, too colorful, and exaggerated are 
considered first-rate. Lofty songs appeal only to highbrow 
people and few can appreciate them. That literati painting is 
not being appreciated by the masses only proves the sublimity 
84 
of its stature. 
But is literati painting merely ugly, weird, and careless? 
When looking at a literati painting from the ancient times until 
now, one can see that the literati's design has been so serious, 
their concept so exquisite, their brushswork so attentive, their 
theory so profound, and their knowledge so deep: how can 
superficial, flippant, and frivolous people catch up with it? 
However, literati paintings first stress spirituality, but they 
do not honor formality. Therefore those that lack formality 
but have a graceful spirit still do not lose their quality as 
literati paintings. Among literati paintings, it is true that 
there are also some ugly, weird, and careless ones. It is said 
that simple is better than delicate, innocent better than 
sophisticated, ugly and weird better than bewitching, and 
careless better than finicky. Letting it be naive without 
polishing can flourish one's character, excite one's 
independent spirit, and correct those pretentious and over-
decorated paintings, so as to preserve their high and 
untouchable character. Therefore the most important element 
in Xie He's WM [457/464-532/549] Six Laws 1 is spirit resonance 
1 The Six Laws were proposed by Xie He of the Liang Dynasty in 
his Gu huapin lu r:!JifJP~:~~ (A record of the classification of 
ancient painters) . The translation of the elements of the Six 
Laws is from William Acker, Some T 'ang and Pre-T 'ang Texts 011 
Chinese Painting (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1954), 4. 
85 
[ qiyun ~MJ and the second most important is bone method, which 
is using the brush [ gufa yongbi it:tftJiHl~:] . [These two elements] 
are proposed very clearly in the very beginning of his argument 
and are the basis for his canon. As for correspondence to the 
object, which means the depicting of forms [yinwu fuxing ~ 
f0~~], suitability to type, which has to do with the laying 
on of colors [suileifucai, ~~~~], transmission by copying, 
that is to say the copying of models [ chuanmo yixie ~lH~~], 
and so on, they are merely the gateways to the basics of the 
learning, convenient for artistic formulation, and for the 
passage to holiness. One must never persist in focusing on these 
[lesser elements]. 
A poem by Dongpo JfU.Bl [SuShi ~iliA, 1037-1101] that has often 
been discussed says, "If one judges painting by formal likeness, 
his opinions are close to those of a child. " 2 What a wonderful 
argument it is! In the beginner's stage, if one gives up formal 
resemblance pursuing goals high and far-to-reach and if one only 
talks about lofty words without learning basic skills, the 
mountains and rivers, birds and beasts, or grass and woods [that 
are painted] cannot be distinguished. However, if people only 
confine themselves to pursuing likeness and there is nothing 
2 su Shi ~~, "Shu Yanlingwang Zhubu suohua zhezhi ershou" f!} 
~~~.:E±.~J5JT:Ii:f=ff;f;l=§ (Two poetic inscriptions written on the 
flowers painted by the secretary Wang of Yanling) . 
86 
else to say about their art except likeness, their paintings 
are like photography. But how can human skills be compared with 
photographic equipment and chemicals? To speak of photography, 
although it is faithful to material substance, it does involve 
artistic ideas in the selection of objects to be photographed 
•·' 
and the design of scenes. It also fits the ideals and pleasures I . •· i. 
i 
of painting, not to mention the pure and elegant art, which is I 
the media for people to express their spirit and feeling. 
What is the wonder of literati painting? It simply expresses 
spirit and feeling. What are the things that literati do? They 
do nothing more than literature and poetry. The materials for 
literature and poetry are nothing more than mountains and rivers, 
grass and woods, birds and beasts, insects and fish, and other 
things people can often see. The sentiment of the literati comes 
only from things common among people and from things of the past 
and present. Are the materials used by [professional] painters 
the same as those used by literati? If [the materials] are the 
same, literati use them to express their feelings toward things 
common among people and toward things of the past and present. 
In this way the literati create paintings. These feelings can 
be expressed through literature as well as painting. Things 
like mountains and rivers, grass and woods, birds and beasts, 
and insects and fish that are often seen can randomly be picked 
up [as materials for painting] for the same purpose. Like 
87 
[things perceived by] the ears, eyes, nose, and tongue all can 
be materials for the brush and the ink. Sound, color, smell, 
and taste are from the mountains and rivers, the birds and beasts, 
and the insects and fish, all of which the people often see. 
Therefore the excitement of vision, hearing, speech, and 
movement is controlled by the human spirit. Since literati have 
this kind of spirit, they simply make the most of the materials 
of the physical world. Would it not exploit the most profound 
and enter the most delicate stage? There is nothing that can 
stop this. However, the organ of ear, eye, nose, and tongue 
might hinder the freedom of seeing, hearing, speaking, and 
moving. Therefore one must practice in order to master Art. 
Individual literati differ in feelings and character from one 
another. Their level of artistic excellency also varies. This 
is how they differ. 
Today there is such painting. Let a stubborn person look 
at it, and he only sees its trees, mountains, rivers, bridges, 
and houses in it. [Such a stubborn person] might further talk 
about the distance of trees from one another, the undulation 
of the mountains, and the positioning of bridges and houses, 
speaking as if he understood much about the painting. However, 
he does not have any ideas about the various schools of painting, 
the design of a painting, the mood of a painting, and the pleasure 
of a painting. Why? It is because he has no concept of painting, 
88 
has done no research on painting, and has no thoughts about 
painting. Therefore, literati do not have to be excellent at 
painting and painters do not have to be excellent at literature. 
Even literati may feel confused when looking at other literati's 
paintings, not to mention those of non-literati. Taking a 
painting by a [professional] painter and letting another 
[professional] painter look at it, he can almost understand it 
without difficulty. However, because of the variation among 
different schools, there may still be something in it that cannot 
be appreciated by all. When [professional] painters look at 
paintings by literati, although they may criticize these 
paintings that do not belong to their group by their own standards 
and rules, they still inevitably bow to their outstanding 
aspects. There is a painting by a [professional] painter and 
another by literati. When a stubborn person looks at the two, 
he cannot tell the difference, or he may even think that literati 
painting is not as good as paintings by [professional] painters. 
Alas! [This kind of person] prefers the organized rather than 
the relaxed, the magnificent rather than the simple and 
unadorned, the soft and mild rather than the fine and forceful, 
the delicate rather than the simple and vigorous, the heavy and 
decorative rather than the light and graceful. This is the 
thought of common people. However., how can the state of art 
be determined merely by superficial appearance? There are also 
89 
many people who consider the thin and weak, pretty and graceful; 
the rough and rugged, simple and vigorous; the stiff and rigid, 
calm and sincere; the superficial and shallow, light and broad. 
They persist in holding to such princples and so discard qiyun 
and gufa. Therefore they cannot grasp the essence of literati 
painting. 
Literati painting has a long history. During the Han period, 
Cai Yong~~ [132-192], Zhang Heng5,&~ [78-139], and others were 
famous for painting. Although I did not see how their paintings 
look, they have been recorded in historical writings. During 
the Six Dynasties, the philosophy of Zhuangzi and Laozi 
prevailed. At that time literati had the thought of going out 
of the world. They wanted to get rid of the shackle of material. 
They wanted to exploit the feelings of freedom and place 
themselves in a lofty and peaceful state. For example, Zong 
Bing *m [375-443] and Wang Wei .:Ef»& [415-443] were famous for 
landscapes, which expressed their thinking and character. 
Therefore, both of them wrote their criticisms on painting. [Su] 
Dongpo once wrote a poem praising Zong Bing's painting. This 
shows how their literati thought matched. Wang Yi U ( 27 6-322 J, 
Wang Xizhi .:Ef!L [321-379], and [Wang] Xianzhi UL (344-388) 
had a very distinctive style. When it developed through Wang 
Wei 3E*i [c. 699-c. 759], Zhang Xia ~~ [1161-1237], Wang Zai 
3E~ [785-805], and Zheng Chien 1$~ [d. c. 761] of the Tang 
90 
Dynasty, [literati painting] became the vogue of the period. 
Moreover, Wang Wei of the Tang Dynasty has been considered the 
founder of the Southern School. 3 At that time, poetry and 
criticism had a very close relationship to painting. This vogue 
[of the Southern School painting] prevailed through the Song, 
Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. It never meets an end. From 
this people can see the great efforts [of the ancients]. 
Literature prevailed greatly in the Northern and Southern Song 
Dynasties. Prose writers and poets appeared one after another 
and philosophy was highly sophisticated. Therefore, the art 
of painting also rose with this trend. All people did their 
best [in painting]. Ouyang Yongshu iX~Jk~ [Ouyang Xiu ~IW; 
f~, 1007-1072], Mei Shengyufij~fr.J [Mei Yaochen;ffij~§ 1 1002-1060] 1 
Su Dongpo ~*:I:El [Su Shi ~~~ 1036-1101] 1 and Huang Shangu jli 
LlJ:fr. [Huang Tingj ian j!i~~' 1045-1105] once wrote poems about 
painting and they could appreciate painting. Sima Junshi ~ 
,~;gJ( [Sima Guang l§ij~:J't;, 1019-1086], Wang Jiefu £1rm [Wang 
3 Here the "Southern School" means the school of literati 
painting. Dong Qichang=fi;ft~ (1555-1636) is usually considered 
the person who started the categorization of Chinese painting 
into Northern and Southern schools. For more discussion on Dong 
Qichang's theory, see Susan Bush, The Chinese Literati on 
Painting: Su Shih (1037-1101) to Tung Ch'i-ch'ang (1555-1636) 
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971), 158-172, and 
Wai-kam Ho, "Tung Ch' i-ch' ang' s New Orthodoxy and the Southern 
School Theory," in Christian F. Murck, ed., Artists and 
Traditions: Uses of the Past in Chinese Culture (Princeton: The 
Art Museum, Princeton University, 1976), 113-129. 
-----
91 
Anshi 3:.3tE, 1021-1086], and Zhu Kaoting *~¥ all have great 
fame in the history of painting. This proves that at that time 
the thinking of literati matched painting very well. Both Monk 
Huaguang's .7\:; [Zhongren fi=p{-, c. 1051-1123] ink plum and Wen 
Yuke' s 3tWI:iJ [Wen Tong )tjq), 1018-1079] ink bamboo were showing 
at this time. Plum and bamboo are merely two kinds of flowers. 
The methods for painting plum in ink had not been heard before 
that. As for ink bamboo, it is said that it can be traced back 
to the Tang Dynasty. Zhang Zao ~~[c. 735-785], Zhang Li ~ 
JL [late Tang Dynasty], and Sun Wei ~{ll [served as general 
885-888] have left traces of their brushstrokes. Established 
methods were already being changed by the tiegosuo and jincuodao 
of the last monarch of the Southern Tang Dynasty. 4 Then the Wen 
Huzhou Bamboo School 3t7M1i'ft1:7JiX5 created the canon for the Yuan 
and Ming dynasties. At that time Dongpo acknowledged its 
wonderful amusement. Literati visualize their thought not only 
in landscape painting. Nothing is unable to carry literati 
4 Tiegosuo (.frfli!, iron hook lock), and j incuodao (1fi:jf!7J, golden 
jade-dressing knife) are the terms for the calligraphic style 
of the last monarch of Southern Tang Dynasty. They are 
characterized by forceful brushstrokes. 
5 Wen Tong is also often mentioned as Wen Huzhou because he was 
once the governor of Huzhou. He was famous for his ink bamboo 
and his school is called Wen Huzhou Bamboo School. wu Zhen 
~~ of the Yuan Dynasty wrote an article "The Wenhuzhou Bamboo 
School" (Wen Huzhou Zhupai 3tltiijm¥.frliR> . In this article he 
introduced many painters who he catagorized as the Wen Huzhou 
Bamboo School. 
·, 
'' 
92 
thought. Literati's amusement is thus clear. 
Moreover, the methods of painting and calligraphy correspond 
to each other. Most people who are good at calligraphy usually 
can paint too. Therefore, throughout history, many people 
mastered both calligraphy and painting. The brushwork of 
painting is no different from that of calligraphy. Gong Kai 
#lim [ 1221-1307] of the Song Dynasty wrote a critique on painting 
in which he said, "People say that this is an ink ghost playing 
with the brush. They are totally wrong. This is the Caosheng 
]j[~6 among calligraphists." How can one who is not good at 
regular script master cursive-script? Lu Tanwei ~~~ (c. 
437-c. 490] invented one-stroke painting after Wang Xianzhi's 
one-stroke calligraphy. Zhao Zi'ang's ~~CP [Zhao Mengfu ~ 
jfu/~, 1254-1322] poem on painting says, "Rocks are like 
flying-white; trees are like seal script. Painting bamboo even 
requires mastering in the eight methods. If one can understand 
this, he must know that painting and calligraphy are originally 
the same. " 7 In addition, Zhao Zi 'ang asked Qian Shunju ~~ 
~ [Qian Xuan ~~, c. 1235-c. 1307] about the art of painting, 
6 Cao means grass-script. Sheng is the title for the ultimate 
master in a certain field. Caosheng means the best 
calligraphist among those who write cursive-script. Usually 
the title of Caosheng is attributed to the Tang Dynasty 
calligrapher Zhang Xu ~Rg. 
7 This quote is from the colophon of Zhao Mengfu's painting 
Elegant Rocks and Sparse Trees (Xiushi shulintu ~:ciiff,t:ff!ll) in the 
Palace Museum in Beijing. 
93 
saying "What is the thing called the literati spirit?" Qian 
answered: "The amateur style. If it can be identified in the 
history of painting, it can fly without wings. If not so, it 
will fall onto evil ways. The more delicate, the farther it 
goes [away from the discipline of literati painting] . " Ke Jiusi 
fol:A.J5f, [ 12 90-134 3] wrote in his critique on painting: "When 
painting bamboo, use seal script to paint the trunk, running 
script to paint the branches, and the bafenj\ft [clerical script] 
method or Lugong' s •n [Yan Zhenqing MJ!i~, 709-785] piebi. 
~:S method to paint the leaves. To paint trees and rocks, use 
zhechaigu 3=JT~)l~9 or the spirit of wulouhen miltitR10 • II The last 
monarch of the Southern Tang Dynasty used the jincuo ~ 
calligraphy method to paint bamboo. So it is clear that literati 
painting not only has a high-minded concept but also absorbs 
calligraphic brushwork into its painting methods, which makes 
the painting even more sophisticated. In order to be 
outstanding, it takes not only the efforts of painting itself, 
but also research into other aspects. Therefore, during the 
Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, literati painting had 
great authority. This is because it combined several kinds of 
cultivation and learning. As for those who have gone far away 
9 Left-diagonal brushstroke 
9 A kind of calligraphic style for which a woman's hairpin is 
the metaphor. 
10 A kind of calligraphic style for which the stain left on the 
94 
from us, Cai Yong, Wang Yi, Xi, Xian are all calligraphers as 
well as painters. 
Ni Yunlin f£~if* [Ni Zan 1£:£1, 1301-1374] himself wrote in his 
critique on painting that: "What I call painting is no more than 
free and careless brushstrokes that are not aimed at pursuing 
physical resemblance. It is only for self-enj oyrnent. " 11 In 
addition, he wrote in his critique on painting bamboo that "I 
paint bamboo only to describe the lofty spirit in my heart. How 
can [my painting] be criticized on the degree of its accuracy 
to nature?" 12 Wu Zhonggui~fqt~ [Wu Zhen~&, 1280-1354] wrote 
in his critique on painting that "The work of ink-play is created 
for pleasure after composing literature. It is a hobby for 
leisure time." From this it can be seen that the spirit and 
pleasure of literati painting matches Dongpo's argument. All 
four masters of Yuan had respectable characters and broad 
learning. Therefore their paintings continued Jing tf!J [ Jing Hao 
fFJJm, c. 855-915], Guan IHJ [Guan Tong ID]~, early lOth C.], Dong 
m [Dong Yuan j[rJJ.j{, d. 962], and Ju B [Juran:§~, active c. 
960-985] and anticipated the different schools of the Ming and 
Qing dynasties. The Four Wangs [Wang Shirnin .:E.~~, 1592-1680; 
wall by rain drops is the metaphor. 
11 This quote is from Ni Zan's "A letter replying to Zhang 
Zaozhong" ( Da Zhang Zaozhong shu ~5.LU!iifqtfi) . 
12 This quote is from an inscription of Ni Zan's painting 
collected in Qingbigegao M~~Mm. 
95 
Wang Jian .:ElL 1598-1677; Wang Hui ..:Eli, 1632-1717; Wang Yuanqi 
..:E»Rffl~, 1642-1715], Wu ~ [Wu Li ~~' 1632-1718], Yun ~ [Yun 
Shouping '[!J!~ZjS, 1633-1690] came from the lineage of the four 
masters' art. Their paintings do not disagree with physical 
reality, precisely matching all the rules and methods. There 
is nothing far-fetched, unsophisticated, or incomplete. Even 
for Yunlin, who does not pursue physical resemblance, when he 
paints woods, are they not like woods? Are they not like rocks 
when he paints rocks? The so-called no-pursuit-of­
physical-resemblance means that the [artists'] efforts are not 
focused on physical resemblance, like the craftsmen of painting 
who meticulously pursue physical resemblance. When he [Yunlin] 
sways his brush, he has another idea and another implication 
[in mind] . He does not meticulously adhere to the old; therefore, 
nature and heavenly secrets can flow out fluently [from his 
brush]. Moreover, the literati's no-pursuit-of-physical­
resemblance is an advance in painting. Why do I say so? Let 
me bring up a simple example. Today when a person starts to 
learn painting, he wants to pursue physical resemblance, but 
cannot do it. After a long time he can gradually grasp 
likeness-the longer the more similar. Later he can memorize 
all the forms of the objects that he sees. When he paints freely, 
nothing will be dissimilar [to physical reality]. He does not 
need to sketch all the details and can paint at will. What he 
-
96 
paints and he would correspond to each other closely. This is 
because his spirit can go beyond the objects themselves. So, 
he can express his spirit through images of objects. There is 
no other reason. The reason is that he can get the main points. 
In the story of Chef Ding ll dissecting a bull, Chef Ding cuts 
at the right points, therefore the meat is cut off very easily, 
as if it fell off naturally. Not being too focused can get the 
right result and wonderfully matches nature. What is the main 
point for this? It is the so-called symbol. 13 
Take examples from history as proof. Paintings before the 
Han Dynasty can rarely be seen. The graphics and the 
inscriptions on the bells and tripods of the Three Dynasties 
are merely symbols of objects. Although they are like words 
as well as paintings, these still cannot be called painting. 
The stone-paintings of the Han Dynasty look antique, innocent, 
13 Chen Hengke deliberatedly inserted the English word "symbol" 
after the Chinese word xiangzheng~m. This is because the word 
xiangzheng is the translation for the word symbol. He may have 
inserted the English word to ensure that people understood that 
the combination of the two characters xiang and zheng means 
symbol but not anything else derived from the meanings of the 
two characters. The story of Chef Ding is from the Chapter of 
the Nurturing of Life from Zhuangzi. In the story, Chef Ding 
could disect a bull very well without much effort. He just 
followed his own spirit and the nature of the bull. This story 
serves a symbolic meaning that following nature is the way of 
life. Here Chen Hengke means that a painter can just follow 
his spirit naturally and does not have to painstakingly draw 
the details. For the complete translation of Chef Ding's story, 
see Martin Palmer trans., The Book of Chuang Tzu (London: Penguin, 
1996), 22-23. 
97 
simple, and ignorant. Compared with those of the Three 
Dynasties, they are even closer [to painting]. As for the 
sculptures of the Six Dynasties, the outlines of faces and 
draperies are like following the rules and methods of a painter, 
but this is only seen on stone carvings. [Paintings] on paper 
must have been considered dull. So many colors were added and 
they were meticulously painted. From Han Wei to the Six 
Dynasties and from Six Dynasties to Sui and Tang Dynasties, it 
has been a natural trend to pursue detailed rendering. In turn, 
from pursuing detailed rendering, there had to be some free and 
loose strokes that grasped the whole spirit. Zong Bing and Lu 
Tanwei thus had their one stroke painting, which illustrates 
this idea. It can be said that the Song people pursued delicacy 
and splendor to the extreme. For example, Huang Quan j{~ [c. 
905-965], Xu Xi :f*~ [d. before 975], Teng Changyou ~t'§iiiti, Yi 
Yuanji ~7GB [11th c.] are all masters of natural representation. 
Dongpo and Wenyu did not base their [painting] theories on 
physical resemblance at all. No one does not have thoughts of 
pursuing advancement. They want to get to the truth and do not 
want to turn back. People will not pursue emptiness but will 
promote truth as much as possible. As for a person's life of 
painting, he will pass the stage of pursuing physical 
resemblance and then [his art] will reveal the art of not pursuing 
physical resemblance. The reason why he will come to not 
98 
consider physical resemblance is that he forgets about it after 
he masters the art of painting and starts to think that he is 
playing in heaven. It can be said that Western paintings 
resemble physical reality to the extreme. Since the nineteenth 
century, [Western people] used scientific methods to study light 
and color. They have a deep and fine 'understanding of physical 
phenomena. However, since recent times, Post-Impressionism 
has gone the opposite direction. It does not emphasize 
objective reality, but lets free [the artist's] subjectivity. 
Cubism, Futurism, and Expressionism have appeared one after 
another. The change of their thought proves that physical 
resemblance is not enough to make most art. Therefore [Western 
painting] could not avoid pursuing other things. However, some 
people may say "Literati painting is too abstruse to be 
understood by mundane people. Why not slightly lower the 
principles [of literati painting] to make it more popular?" 
This is just like compromising classical Chinese literature to 
fit the vernacular language or forcing a child who can speak 
to learn the cry of an infant. Can that be done? For literati 
painting to seek popularity, the first thing to do is to cultivate 
people's thoughts and character, and elevate their minds so that 
they can be familiar with the literati's amusement. Then they 
can naturally appreciate and enjoy literati painting. If people 
do not pursue the essentials but follow the trivial, literati 
99 
painting will become craftsmanship, and the characteristics of 
literati painting will be thrown to the ground. There are 
already paintings by craftsmen for practical use in common life. 
Why should the literati disregard their principles and do the 
things that belong to other professions? 
The first element of literati painting is character, the 
second is scholarship, the third is brilliant expression, and 
the fourth is thought. The way art works is that people can 
affect other people and can communicate with each other through 
their spirit. A person must have this thought and spirit to 
move people and move himself as well. People say that feelings 
can affect people. This is what recent aestheticians think 
important. 
-
100 
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