Xuhua 敘畫

Xuhua 敘畫 is a book on painting written during the Southern Dynasties period 南朝 (420-589) by Wang Wei 王微 (c. 440), who lived under the Liu-Song dynasty 劉宋 (420-479). The text was compiled somewhat later than Zong Bing's 宗炳 (375-443) Hua shanshui xu 畫山水序.

Wang Wei points out the difference between landscapes and maps, emphasizing the "refinement" (zhi 致) and "emotions" (qing 情) of landscape painting creation, saying that "when looking at the autumn clouds, the spirit is flying, and facing the spring breeze, one ponders about the vastness of nature". Even if painting could arise the same feelings like bronze and stone inscriptions or beautiful pieces of jade, it was not possible to imitate the true beauty of nature. In the eyes of Wang Wei, painting was the manifestation of the painter’s skills, imaginations and emotions.

Painting different from the human eye because it was able to provide a glimpse of the whole universe (yi guan zhi bi, ni taixu zhi ti 一管之筆，擬太虛之體), while the eyes could only observe one single spot at a time. However, the aim of painting was not to reproduce nature as a pure copy, but to reflect the spirit of it and express it visually.

The text is included in the series Jindai mishu 津逮秘書, Wangshi shuhua yuan 王氏書畫苑, Peiwenzhai shuhapu 佩文齋書畫譜, Zhongguo huaxue quanshi 中國畫學全史, and is quoted in full in Zhang Yanyuan's 張彥遠 (early 8th cent.) Lidai minghua ji 歷代名畫記.