ble that was apparently perfect and which made it
possible to have faith in the excellence of the principles laid down by
the monarchy. Thus a school was formed which had its own philosophy,
manners and ideals, all of them cold, stiff and without spontaneity. It
was an over-perfect machine which went like clockwork. The world was
judged with a narrow and somewhat stupid self-confidence. The ideal dwelt
in the word of Confucian writings, divorced from their true meaning, and
so badly interpreted that they ceased to be understood aright. The
meticulous, bureaucratic and hieratic administration of the Tartars was a
perfect system of government. The machine was still new and worked well,
whence arose a false impression of permanence which added still further to
the complacency of the conservative mind. An art was necessary to this
China. She had it. It was academic painting.

[Illustration: PLATE XIX. EGRETS BY LIN LIANG
Ming Period. Collection of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Junior.]

Side by side with this and yet apart, other influences were at work.
Notwithstanding the prohibition of books on heterodox philosophies in
schools, accompanied by the widespread decadence of Buddhism, and the
complete downfall of Taoism owing to gross practices in popular magic, and
despite the disdain of the official world, another element in China was
preserving the spirit of the past, the restless spirit that craved
novelty. In all probability its obscure workings did not appear
immediately upon the surface, concealed as they were by the strictly
prescribed screen of official China. They were sufficiently strong,
however, to give rise to an art which differed essentially from academic
art, and which numbered masters who were comparable with those of the
past. In spite of adverse circumstances and the weight under which these
movements were buried, they made themselves felt in violent upheavals.
First let us draw a picture of the decadence of an art and later we shall
return to activity and life.

Official painting in the Ming period rapidly stiffened into convention. To
understand how it took shape, we must go back to the time of Hui Tsung and
observe the method of recruiting talent in the Academy which he founded.

That painting was allied to philosophic and poetic thought is already
known. It was always a refined diversion of poets and painters to unite in
a quest for the beautiful. The poet wrote verses and the painter painted a
pic