Traditional Chinese ink painting is one of the most brilliant Chinese cultural creations. It has thousands of years of history. Chinese brush painting reflects Chinese nation’s unique cultural literacy, artistic appreciation and aesthetic consciousness.
When we paint traditional Chinese ink paintings, it helps us to keep calm and cultivate our sense of art. And it helps us to learn about Chinese culture. From Chinese ink painting we can learn more about exciting stories behind them, the picture of it is a vivid documentary of the history at a certain period of time.
The Chinese do painting with brushes, dipping their brushes in ink or paint and then skillfully wielding them. Painters produce Xuan paper with lines and dots—some heavy, some light, some deep, and some pale.
Classification according to subject matter of Chinese painting:
Chinese Landscape painting
Chinese Bird-and-flower painting
Chinese Figure Painting
The paper, ink, brush, and inkstone（砚台） are essential tools of East Asian calligraphy: they are known together as the Four Treasures of the Study (文房四宝) in China.
Paper
Special types of paper are used in East Asian calligraphy. In China, Xuanzhi, traditionally made in Anhui province, is the preferred type of paper. It is made from other materials including rice, the paper mulberry, bamboo, hemp, etc.. Sometimes the brush is used to put ink on a pen.
Ink
The ink is made from lampblack (soot) （煤烟）and binders（粘合剂）, and comes in sticks which must be rubbed with water on an inkstone until the right consistency is achieved. Much cheaper, pre-mixed bottled inks are now available. Learning to rub the ink is an essential part of calligraphy study.
Brush
The brush is the traditional writing implement（工具） in East Asian calligraphy. The body of the brush can be made from either bamboo, or rarer materials like red sandalwood, glass, ivory, silver, and gold. The head of the brush can be made from the hair (or feather) of a wide variety of animals, including the wolf, rabbit, deer, chicken, duck, goat, pig, etc.
Inkstone
A stone or ceramic（陶瓷） inkstone is used to rub the solid ink stick into liquid ink and to contain the ink once it is liquid. Cheaper inkstones are made of plastic. Inkstones are often carved, so they are collectible works of art on their own.