"The perspective system of Chinese painting must be understood as a conceptual one, not dependent on biological mechanisms of the naked eye, as was the Renaissance system.... Chinese painting strove for a timeless, communal impression, which could be perceived by anyone, and yet was not a scene viewed by anyone in particular." [Dazheng, 46]
"In classical Chinese art theory all things have their own individual spirit (shen), the essence of their form. The highest aspiration of Chinese painting was to render a spiritual, rather than a purely physical, likeness. Each painting had its own intellectual and philosophical world to which the viewer gained access by means of the imagination." [Dazheng, 46-7]
"...the world of landscape painting was the utopia of the Chinese intellectual, who firmly believed that by means of an understanding of nature one could return to nature and find a resting place for one's spirit there. The frequent use of 'empty shots' of nonhuman subjects in traditional Chinese films conveyed the message that humanity could not be separated from Nature." [Dazheng, 50]
"In traditional Chinese films, human characters are primarily actors in a plot, and not the object of visual appreciation... Medium shots, which clearly portrayed the activities of the characters without revealing much detail, were preferred." [Dazheng, 50]
"The rejection of chiaroscuro techniques in Chines painting implies a rejection of Western principles of realism. Light reveals the shape of objects, but objects exist even without light. Chinese painting sought to transcend light which reveals only a transitory existence, in order to express the forms of eternal existence" [something like Platonic idealism?? Dazheng, 54]
Resources:
"Chinese Visual Representation" by Hao Dazheng, in Cinematic Landscapes (Erlich, Desser, eds.)
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