This book explores the development of Chinese art from 1840 to 1949. On the basis of an in-depth exploration of the development of contemporary art, it attempts to clarify its origins. Taking the twentieth century as the dimension, it goes up to the modern historical background since 1840 and down to the pluralistic and undefined contemporary art scene of the new century. Starting from the broader context of China's modernisation, the author explores how Chinese local art has moved from passive to active, from monolithic to multifaceted, and from pre-modern to modern in the context of a century of diversity and interconnectedness between the East and the West.