Some of the great teachers of China appear to have had a similar view of the value of art to that held by Pope Gregory the Great. They thought of art as a means of reminding people of the great examples of virtue in the golden ages of the past.One of the earliest illustrated Chinese bookscrolls that have been preserved is a collection of great examples of virtuous ladies, written in the spirit of Confucius. It is said to go back to the painter Ku K'ai-chi, who lived in the fourth century AD.

中国有些伟大的贤哲对于艺术的价值观似乎跟罗马教皇格里高里所坚持的看法相似。他们把艺术看成一种工具，用以提醒人们回忆过去黄金盛世的美德典范。现存最早的中国画卷有一卷是根据儒家思想选编的贞妇淑女事迹；据说原本出自公元4世纪的画家顾恺之的手笔。


绢本手卷局部,现藏大英博物馆
The illustration shows a husband unjustly accusing his wife, and it has all the dignity and grace we connect with Chinese art. It is as clear in its gestures and arrangement as one might expect from a picture which also aims at driving home a lesson. It shows, moreover, that the Chinese artist had mastered the difficult art of representing movement. There is nothing rigid in this early Chinese work, because the predilection for undulating lines imparts a sense of movement to the whole picture.

本页面的附图，画着一个丈夫无端地责怪他的妻子，此画卷具有我们所称道的中国艺术的全部高贵和优雅之处。画中的姿势和布置十分清楚，人们对一幅阐明事理的图画所可期待的能事已尽。此外，它也表明当时的中国艺术家已经掌握了表现运动的复杂技艺。这幅中国早期作品中丝毫没有生硬之处，因为画中特别喜欢使用起伏的线条，这就赋予了整个画面一种运动感。