Meanwhile, China's painters, living amidst domestic turmoil and foreign invasion, felt the pressure of disappearing traditions. Forced to absorb the creative techniques and methods of the West, China's painters devoted their efforts to the reform of traditional painting, seeking an East-West fusion of technique. The content of their paintings abounded in themes of ethnic consciousness. Western painting thus followed completely different courses of development in China and Taiwan.
而對岸的中國畫家，身處內憂外患的社會，心中有傳統沒落的壓力，逼使得畫家們吸收西方創作技巧與方式，只為致力於傳統繪畫的改革，這樣在技巧上講求中西融合，在內容上充滿民族意識的方向，與台灣西畫發展形成兩條完全不同的路。