Colored Painting (gongbi) and Water-Ink Painting (xieyi)

In terms of drawing skills, Chinese paintings can be categorized into two styles: colored paintings and water-ink paintings, with the former dominant before the 12th century by professional or craftsman painters, and the latter in and after the 12th century by literati painters.

By Xu Wei, Ming Dynasty

Also known as "fine-stroke" paintings, colored paintings feature close attention to details and fine brushwork. Thanks to the mineral-made dyes, the original colors can be fully maintained and the paintings will not fade away as time goes by. Colored paintings, which manifest in themselves unparalleled sublime air, were widely welcomed among the painters serving in royal courts.

On the contrary, water-ink paintings, also called "thick-stroke" paintings, are supposed to convey spiritual resonance with strokes as simple as possible, instead of attaching much importance to the realistic subjects.