The painting The Waterfall on Mount Lu by Shao Mi is part of a long tradition of landscape painting in Chinese art. Mountain landscapes have been used over the centuries in Chinese painting and have changed dramatically with the popularization of new styles. Although Shao Mi's style is very different from the method of Song, Yuan, or even earlier Ming artists, references to the old masters are evident in his work. Lu is an important historical landmark, located in China's Jiangxi province, and served as an important inspiration for scholars, poets, artists, and monks (Wu 153). The Three-Step Waterfall is Mount Lu's most famous cataract and gets its name from the way it flows over three protruding rock formations that alter its direction (Mount Lushan). Many artists choose this place as the subject of their works due to its importance as a Taoist religious site and perhaps because its distinctive appearance makes it easily identifiable (Munakata 111). Despite the fact that Mount Lu is featured so frequently in artwork, Shao's painting is truly unique. Conflicting influences developed Shao Mi's painting style and caused it to change in its next phase (Cahill, Distant Mountains 59). When it was founded, the Wu School was composed of literati artists who placed equal importance on painting, calligraphy, and poetry. Soochow's later artists were unschooled and used a rapid, expressive style that focused less on the finer details and more on using bold strokes to capture an image. Some historians attribute this change to the turn toward mercantilism in Soochow that led to a decline in artistic patronage (Cahill, Distant Mountains 31). Being the son of an eminent physician, Shao was well educated and enjoyed the company of scholars and ...... middle of paper ......protected the mountain in his mist work changing the entire appearance of the composition. Works CitedCahill, James. Compelling Image: Nature and Style in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Painting. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1982. Print.---. Distant Mountains: Chinese Painting of the Late Ming Dynasty, 1570-1644. New York: Weatherhill Inc, 1982. Print.Munakata, Kiyohiko. The Sacred Mountains in Chinese art. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991. Print.“Shen Zhou: Lofty Mount Lu.”chinaonlinemuseum.com. Online Museum of China. nd Web. 10 April 2011.Sirén, Osvald. A history of later Chinese painting. vol. 2. New York: Hacker Art Books, 1978. Print.Wu, Marshall PS The Gathering of the Orchid Pavilion: Chinese Painting from the University of Michigan Museum of Art. vol. 1. Ann Arbor: University Lithoprinters Inc, 2000. Print.