During this period, literature, philosophy, painting, calligraphy and art theory flourished. Chinese art was influenced to a great extent by Buddhism, as revealed by wall paintings in Dun-huang and massive stone carvings in the mountains in Henan and Shaanxi. It was a golden age for poetry and the arts generally, marked by flourishing of all the arts including painting, calligraphy, sculpture, ceramics, metalwork, music, and poetry. The Song emperors were great imperial patrons of the arts. Arts show an introspection and refinement cultivated in response to harsh political realities.
Landscape painting is well known.
Many new types of ceramics were developed. The educated Chinese therefore channelled their energy into their traditional literature and arts, resulting in a flowering in drama and arts in general. Painters still chose landscape as primary subject matter, but expressed it in a bolder and more assertive style. Calligraphy became very popular. Ming produced a number of important painters with widened subject matters.