“The painting is surely not an accurate rendition of a particular scene. Yet it could not have been achieved before the artist had acquired, through accumulated apprehensions of reality, a penetrating knowledge of light, mist, the nature and structure of mountains. Perhaps it is Tao-chi himself, the tireless climber of mountains, who stands on a jutting ledge near the bottom, attended by a patient friend. An image of quiescence, he gazes not up toward the waterfall, but down into the dense vapor that flows past.”(James Cahill, Chinese Painting, ch. 10)