Commonly known as \"national painting,\" traditional Chinese painting differs from other schools such as western oil painting and watercolor painting, and exists as an independent category featuring distinctive Oriental flavor. The notion of Chinese painting actually came into being after the Republic Era, before which painting was terms as \"Danqing\" (literally translated as red and blue painting). After this period, western paintings started to gain influence and a lot of Chinese started to learn typical techniques for oil painting and watercolor painting. In this context, Chinese painting started to be celebrated as a local concept distinct from western paintings. Generally speaking, this term refers to the school in which painters employ the brush as the tool. Traditional Chinese paintings can produce a flexible and diversified interpretation of ink and color. Nowadays, traditional Chinese paintings have become recognized across the globe. Increasingly, more and more westerners have started to study it.