In He's view, Chinese artistic traditions can be roughly divided into two types –"old traditions" and "newer traditions".
The "old traditions" mainly consisted of the literati painting and landscape painting produced during the classical era in Chinese history – the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties (960-1911) that have been the primary inspiration for generations of artists.
Many a showpiece is steeped in these millennium-old traditions in one way or another.