Table of Contents

Preface
From Gu Kaizhi to Wu Daozi
Tomb Chamber Paintings
The Most Romantic Painting
"Communication of the Soul"
Spring Outing (You-Chun TU)
Emperors of Great Prosperity
Another Figure Painting
"The Painting Saga"
Famous Paintings Record of Past Dynasties (Li-dai ming-hua ji)
Desert Treasures
Buddhism Going East
Dunhuang Mogao Caves
Lucid Mountains and Remote Streams
Northern Painters and Southern Painters
Song Huizong and his period
Along the River During the Oingming Festival
(Oingming Shanghe Tu)
Panorama Shanshui
Su Shi and Mi Fu
Scholar Paintings
Zhao Mengfu and "Four Masters of the Yuan Dynasty"
Plum Blossom, Orchid, Bamboo and Stone
"The Southern and Northern Sects"
"Four Monks" and "Four Wangs"
The End of Scholar Paintings and Famous Chinese Painters of
Modern Times
Modern Chinese Paintings
Painters Studying Abroad
Revolutionary Realism
"Modern" and "Post-Modern"
Appendix: Chronological Table of the Chinese
Dynastie

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The Northern Song Dynasty unified the country, endingthe turmoil caused by feudal states that tore the nation apartand ushering in a period of social stability. As commerce andthe handicraft industry underwent rapid development, urbancivilization flourished. Zhao Ji, the eighth emperor of the NorthernSong Dynasty otherwise known as Huizong, went down in historyfor his political incompetence and obsession with art. When theNorthern Song was overthrown by the Jin Dynasty of the northernnomads in 1127, emperor Huizong and his son Zhao Heng, oremperor Qinzong, were captured and jailed by the invaders anddied miserably years later. After the fall of the Northern SongDynasty, the imperial court retreated to the south where theyestablished the Southern Song Dynasty （1127-1279） with Lin'anas the capital city. Immigrants from the north exploited theresourceful south and together with the locals created a period ofsustained economic and cultural developments. Bianliang （Kaifeng,Henan province） and Lin'an （Hangzhou, Zhejiang province）,respective capitals of the Northern Song Dynasty and theSouthern Song Dynasty, were both prosperous commercial cities.