Chinese painting is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. Bits and pieces of painting on silk, stone and painted lacquer items had survived as early as the Warring States (481 - 221 BC) period. Prior to that, the paintings were ornamental and consisted of pattern or designs, not pictures. The artists from the Han (202 BC) to the Tang (618-906) dynasties mainly painted the human figures. Landscape painting is considered to be the highest form of Chinese painting and the Great age of Chinese landscape is from the Five Dynasties period to the Northern Song period (907-1127).There are mainly two techniques in Chinese painting, which are Meticulous or Gong-bi (工筆), often referred to as court-style painting and Freehand or Shui-mo (水墨) which is loosely termed as watercolour or brush painting.
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