Between the Realm of Immortals and Reality: Rethinking the Thematic Dimension of Chinese Landscape Painting
——A Review of Sun Guoliang’s This Is Penglai: A Study of the Art of Wandering-Immortal Landscape Painting
Xin Wei
University of Barcelona
Casa Asia Foundation
Editorial Note
This essay explores Chinese landscape painting through the figure of the wandering immortal, moving between image, narrative, and cultural imagination. Rather than treating landscape as static representation, it opens a space where perception, mythology, and movement intersect.
In the current context of global art historical scholarship, which increasingly emphasizes cross-cultural perspectives and methodological reflection, reinterpreting traditional Chinese landscape painting outside established narrative frameworks has become an academically significant endeavor. Sun Guoliang’s monograph, This Is Penglai: A Study of the Art of Wandering-Immortal Landscape Painting, represents a systematic exploration undertaken against this backdrop. It not only addresses a long-neglected genre of painting but also offers an explanatory pathway centered on “theme” in Chinese art history.
Based on the author’s doctoral dissertation, this book proposes the concept of “wandering-immortal landscape painting” (youxian shanshui hua) through a meticulous examination of historical painting texts and visual materials. This term designates a category of landscape painting that primarily depicts immortal mountains, the quest for immortality, encounters with immortals, and realms of transcendence. The author argues that such works are not only numerous in the history of Chinese painting but also exhibit relatively stable patterns in pictorial composition and cultural connotation, thus necessitating their independent identification and systematic study from a typological perspective. This act of naming and defining constitutes, in a sense, a “rediscovery,” granting a new scholarly identity to visual materials previously scattered across various fields of study.
Notably, this book departs from traditional research approaches centered on the evolution of brushwork and technique. Instead, it introduces a method grounded in thematology, repositioning “what is depicted” at the core of art historical analysis. Within the development of modern Chinese art theory, the concept of “theme” has been alternately emphasized and downplayed in different contexts. The author, however, strives to establish a more balanced understanding: theme is not subordinate to form as mere content, nor is it a superficial element to be overlooked; rather, it constitutes an intrinsic mechanism that permeates image generation, formal organization, and the construction of artistic conception. This research approach establishes a potential dialogue with iconography and thematic studies in Western art history, thereby offering a mode of interpretation for the study of Chinese painting that can engage with international academic discourse.
In terms of specific argumentation, the book first delves into cultural origins, tracing the emergence and evolution of the concept of “wandering among immortals” within the Chinese intellectual tradition, particularly emphasizing its close connection with Daoist beliefs and ideas of transcendence. Building on this foundation, through typological analysis, the author identifies three primary thematic orientations in wandering-immortal landscape painting. The first is the imaginative construction of an ideal world and a spiritual home. The second revolves around the spiritual aspiration to attain longevity and transcend life and death. The third manifests as a symbolic expression of personal independence and spiritual freedom. This classification not only possesses a clear logical structure but also reveals the profound intellectual depth carried by landscape painting beyond its aesthetic forms.
Furthermore, through the analysis of paradigmatic images such as “Immortal Mountain and Pavilion” paintings (xianshan louge tu), the author demonstrates the continuity and transformation of this theme across different historical periods. By sorting out pictorial motifs, spatial structures, and modes of visual narration, the book illustrates how the theme was continually reconfigured in specific works, thereby forming a traceable thread of art historical development. One could say that this mode of writing a “history of landscape painting organized around theme” offers a valuable complementary pathway to traditional narratives centered on stylistic schools or lineages.
From a cross-cultural perspective, the significance of This Is Penglai is particularly noteworthy. In Western art history, landscape painting is often closely linked to the representation of nature or the visual experience. In contrast, Chinese landscape painting aligns more closely with the notion of a “spiritual landscape.” It is both an imaginative reconfiguration of nature and a symbolic expression of cultural ideals. In this book, “Penglai” ceases to be merely a mythical immortal mountain; it becomes a cultural metaphor that traverses reality and imagination, connecting the experiential world with the spiritual realm. Through the systematic analysis of this imagery, the author effectively provides a new theoretical lens for understanding the unique visual logic of Chinese landscape painting.
This book exemplifies a research approach characterized by both solid grounding in historical sources and methodological self-awareness. Its arguments are grounded in a deep engagement with traditional texts and visual materials, while also actively responding to contemporary methodologies in art historical research. This Is Penglai can be regarded as a work of integrative scholarship: it not only delineates a relatively distinct genre of painting but also offers a new set of research questions and analytical pathways for the study of Chinese landscape painting.
Today, as the intellectual landscape of global art history is continually being redrawn, This Is Penglai provides not only a systematic understanding of “wandering-immortal landscape painting” but also a potential pathway for comprehending the Chinese visual tradition. It reminds us that landscape painting is not merely a depiction of nature but a form of visual expression deeply embedded in cultural imagination and spiritual pursuit.
If “Penglai” symbolizes a distant, unattainable ideal realm, then this work accomplishes precisely an academic voyage towards that ideal. In this sense, it extends the world of traditional imagery while also opening new horizons for future writing on art history. This essay is offered as a sincere tribute to the author’s scholarly achievement.
Xin Wei holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Barcelona and currently participates in research on cross-cultural practices at Casa Asia Foundation. Their work focuses on reinterpreting Chinese visual culture within global contexts.