Chinese Painting 

It is a great pleasure to see Mr. Chen Dazhang paint. He really reveals his character in his work. He gives a free hand to his brush pen and his paintings are characterized by their peculiarity, display of high skill and originality.

As a painter, Chen Dazhang craves the serenity of country life. He believes that plants growing in the field are free from all artificial processing. 'Natural' is the best word to describe it. He finds great pleasure in getting inspiration from nature. His paintings exemplify the perfect union between nature, life and art.

Chinese painters tend to imitate the style of their ancestors. Sometimes the painters are so exact, it is difficult to distinguish the original from the copy. Well, not in this case, but it's for this reason, the look of Chinese brush painting has remained much the same for thousands of years.

Of course, every object has its natural color, like these fruits. The apple is red. The pear is yellow. The orange, of course, is orange. And these grapes: some are purple, some are green, and some are somewhere in between. Well, many painters, Like Mr. Zhang here, use ink alone to create a rhythmic balance between brightness and darkness, density and lightness. Even though he is only using ink, you can see there is a wide variety of in the shades.

The delicacy of rendering color in these paintings is skillfully handled by the painters. Yet, with a changing cultural background, these paintings hardly draw attention from people in today's fast-paced society, unless they are experts.

Because of this, many modern painters have changed the traditional painting style. When Liu Fangting draws cats, he outlines the cat with an ink line, and then adds a considerable amount of color, so as to enrich the spirit of the painting. He doesn't depend nearly as much on ink in his work.

China covers an area 9.6 million square kilometers. She has everything from mountains to valleys, and desserts to lakes. Her many scenic vistas provide great material for artists to create landscape paintings.

Since the stylistic requirements of Chinese brush painting do not demand a strict adherence to a particular perspective, Chinese landscape painters tend to mix what they have seen from different angles of a mountain into one painting.

This then leaves them with the problem of finding a way to present the different views together. So many times, they use clouds or mists to create a sense of wholeness in the painting.

A horizontal scroll like this one is good for presenting the wideness of lakes and mountains. In the same way, vertical scrolls are suitable for depicting the highness of mountains. People tend to prefer horizontal scrolls. When you're opening a hand scroll, it's a bit like setting out on a vibrant adventure into the past.

Ge Yan has been painting landscapes for decades. Today, she invites 7 artists to paint a long scroll entitled 'The 10,000-Li Great Wall'.

First, they outline the mountains with light ink, and then use a winkle technique and splash-ink effect vertically and horizontally. The freehand style stimulates the grandeur of the mountains covered with thick forest. The rivers and lakes reflect the beauty of the clouds. The mountains, gradually fading into horizon, are shaded with light ink or blue color.

This landscape painting is not wholly realistic. It is a combination of visual art and memory. The ingenious arrangement of natural scenes and historic spots, and the merging of spaces make the painting seem as if it's not confined to the scroll. It leaves room for the audiences' speculation.

The Great Wall of China is one of the only man-made structures that is visible from outer space. It also provides inspiration for many Chinese painters. Here today, 8 painters have collaborated to capture the beauty and grandeur of the Great Wall, even at its famous places like Badaling, and Mutianyu. Like the actual Great Wall, this scroll is unusually long, measuring 20 meters in length and one meter in width.

If painters collaborate to produce a painting, they have to have solid painting knowledge. Yet, how to achieve the best effect is something not easily explained with words.

In the early stages of its development, Chinese brush painting was closely tied to other crafts, such as decorating pottery, bronze, and jade pieces. Since then, Chinese brush painting has evolved with the society in to the rich art that we see today. Through it we can trace the passing of the dynasties and the changes in social conditions. Thanks for watching this edition of sRediscovering China. I'm Laurel Bennett. See you next time.

Editor:Hu  Source:CCTV.com