Huang Pin-hung, a celebrated mainland Chinese painter based in Taiwan, famously said of traditional Chinese painting: Tang dynasty painting was like fermented malt, Song dynasty painting was like liquor, and Yuan dynasty painting was like extra pure liquor. But after that the 'liquor' began to get watered down, to the point where in recent times there's no taste at all! "
談起水墨畫，也就是早年所稱的國畫，近代國畫大師黃賓虹曾有一段名言：「唐畫如麴，宋畫如酒，元畫如醇，元代以下，漸如酒之加水，時代愈近，加水愈多，近日之畫已有水無酒，故淡而無味。」