Culture

Painting was a major part of the Northern Song Dynasty, and played such a large role in the Chinese culture. There were many different types of paintings but the three most popular types of painting were Chinese painting, Figure painting, and Landscape painting. The Northern Song Dynasty is known as a high point in the expansion of the Chinese painting. A traditional Chinese painting is made of simple lines, and shapes. It is two dimensional, and close objects are scene at the bottom of the paper and objects far away are at the top of the page. The painting was usually based on the artist’s state of mind and personal remembrance. Chinese painting is made of four categories: figure painting, landscape painting, bird -and-flower painting and ink painting. The first major category, figure painting, is paintings that show proper moral behavior, which were used to illustrate the Confucian text. The painting was used at the imperial court to show the daily life of the elite. Figure painting was usually used to paint people while they are naked or paint peoples figures. The name figure painting came from, a person’s figure painted. The last but most important category was Landscape paintings. The name basically speaks for itself; it is a painting of a landscape. Since China is so mountainous the landscape paintings were often of mountains. The other paintings were of trees, and the yellow river which ran through the capital city, Kaifeng. These paintings kept the emperor, scholars, children, and adults occupied on their free time.