Duringthe 1st century A.D., the art of painting religious muralsgradually gained in prominence, with the introduction of Buddhism toChina and the consequent building of temples. However, the subjectmatters later expanded beyond religious themes. For example,paintings of historical characters and stories of everyday lifebecame extremely popular. Besides historical figures, landscapepainting was also common in Chinese brush painting. By the 4thcentury, this particular type of painting had already establisheditself as an independent form of expression. It then graduallydeveloped into two separate styles. The blue-and-green landscape usedbright blue, green and red pigments derived from minerals to create arichly decorative style; the ink-and-wash landscape relied on vividbrushwork and various intensity of ink to express the artist’sconception of nature as well as his own emotions. Another genrecommonly found in Chinese brush painting was flower-and-birdpainting. A great many artists in the 9th century paintedin this genre and their subject matters included a rich variety offlowers, fruits, birds, insects, and fish.

   Sincethe turn of 20^{th century, painters have often mixedseveral colors on one brush or mixed their colors with black inks. Asa result, they have obtained more natural and richly varied colors.Such techniques have widely adopted and further developed in thecontemporary period.}