Also, why is it advised to use dry ink instead of bottled ink
(liquid)? I believe that there are slight differences, but
nothing a novice would notice. I use both Chinese and Japanese
brushes. Bottled ink has more glue in it and so it will tend to
clog up the inkstone, but if you use dry ink, it takes over an
hour to prepare the ink before you start (they say it calms the
spirit to do so). At the school I attend nearly everybody uses
bottled ink. You can try the following sites: I’m trying to
answer a couple questions, but it seems vague. Anyone have a
simple and generalized answer to: What was the role of Art in
Chinese society before 1279? "China’s highly developed material
culture stretches back as early as the 7th millennium BC, when
Neolithic (c. 6500–1600 BC) potters created forms and decorative
schemes that would recur throughout the long continuity of
Chinese Art. The succeeding Bronze Age art of the Shang (c.
1600–c. 1050 BC) and Zhou (c. 1050–256 BC) periods, mostly in
the form of cast bronze vessel