Chinese Painting China can boast of a succession of great painters for the past twelve centuries,with some worthy of note who lived and worked much earlier.As Chinese writing is,in its earlier form,merely a kind of pictorial representation of ideas,writing and painting developed together,and the distinguished penman is usually also a painter of note.By the end of the third century BC painting was a developed art,as distinct from writing,and since that time several schools have flourished and given place to writing,and since that time several schools have flourished and given place to later developments.Chinese Painting China can boast of a succession of great painters for the past twelve centuries, with some worthy of note who lived and worked much earlier. As Chinese writing is, in its earlier form, merely a kind of pictorial representation of ideas, writing and painting developed together, and the distinguished penman is usually also a painter of note. By the end of the third century BC painting was a developed art, as distinct from writing, and since that time several schools have flourished and given place to writing, and since that time several schools have flourished and given place to later developments