Danqing

In Chinese painting, Danqing () refers to paintings on silk and Xuan paper. "Danqing" is painted with an ink brush, color ink, or Chinese pigments using natural plant, mineral, and both metal pigments and pigment blends. "Danqing" literally means "red and blue-green" in Chinese, or more academically, "vermillion and cyan". They are two of the most used colors in ancient Chinese painting. 
"Danqing" is typically colorful and vibrant, using different colors to depict vivid landscapes, scenery, figures, portraits, plants and animals. Some of the fundamental colors used in "Danqing" are white, yellow, red, blue-green, and black. "Shuimo" (), also known as ink wash painting, is another form of traditional Chinese painting that uses only black ink with water in different concentrations to create different shades of black.
The origin of the word "Danqing" comes from the combination of the Chinese characters "Dan" () and "Qing" (). ""Dan" () refers to "Dansha" (, lit. cinnabar), a mineral pigment with the color vermillion () or red (). "Qing" () refers to "Qingyu"" (), a cyan or blue-green mineral pigment. Because ancient Chinese paintings often used these two colors, "Danqing" has become a synonym for painting in the Chinese language. 
Throughout its history, "Danqing" has taken on multiple meanings, and may refer to any of the following: 
"Danqing" has a longer storage time than regular plant pigments, and generally does not fade easily. Therefore, it is often used as a metaphor for faithfulness, such as ""Danqing" is unswerving ()."
History.
The word "Danqing" has a long history in the Chinese culture and language. It appears often in Chinese classics, historical records, literature, etc. Some of the earliest historical records of "Danqing" include the "Rites of Zhou", "Guanzi", the "Records of the Grand Historian", the "Book of Han". It also appears in many other ancient Chinese classics. 
Zhou dynasty (1076 BC – 314 BC).
"Danqing" was mentioned in the chapter "Office of Autumn on Justice" of "Rites of Zhou" (simplified Chinese: 周礼·秋官司寇, traditional Chinese: 周禮·秋官司寇), a text written between 300 BC and 200 BC on the bureaucracy and organizational system of the Zhou dynasty. "Danqing" is mentioned as one of the minerals in the treasury, which is guarded by officials in the "Zhi Jin" () position.
Spring and autumn period (722 BC – 476 BC).
In "Guanzi" (), written by Guan Zhong (720 BC-645 BC), "Danqing" was referred to as the minerals that can be excavated from the mountain.
Warring states period (475 BC – 221 BC).
In the "Records of the Grand Historian", written in 94 BC, a conversation between Li Si and Qin Shi Huang is recorded during the Warring States Period. In this conversation, Li Si argued that Qin Shi Huang should only use people and things within Qin (state) to build the Qin dynasty, using "Danqing" minerals from the Shu region as a counterexample.
Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD).
In the record of "Book of Han", Sima Xiangru (179 BC – 117 BC) described a place called "Yunmeng" in Chu (state) to the Emperor Wu of Han, stating that the place's soil contained D"anqing" (cinnabar and azurite) among other colorful minerals.
By the Han Dynasty, D"anqing" had been used to refer to the style of Chinese painting. For example, in the "Book of Han", Li Ling used the phrase "painted in D"anqing" ()".
Three kingdoms (189 AD - 263 AD).
During the Three Kingdoms period (189 AD - 263 AD), Cao Pi, before becoming the first emperor of Cao Wei, wrote a letter to Meng Da (a military general of Wei (state), died in 228 AD), stating that "D"anqing" draws figures, while historian records the meritorious services and achievements", in which D"anqing" referred to the Chinese painting's artist.
Jin dynasty (266–420).
By the Jin dynasty, the word "Danqing" was extended to mean the process of Chinese painting. In the "Book of Jin", published in 648 AD, the Chinese painter and politician Gu Kaizhi was described as "especially good at D"anqing"", in which D"anqing" means the art of painting. 
Tang dynasty (618 AD – 907 AD).
In "Quan Tangshi" (, "Complete Collection of Tang Poems"), Du Fu wrote a poem called "Prelude of a Painting: Presented to General Cao Ba" (Chinese: ""). Though in the title of the poem D"anqing" means the Chinese painting, in the sentence within the poem D"anqing" instead refers to the art of Chinese painting: "", or "While I was painting, I didn't realize old age is coming". 
Du Fu also wrote another poem called "Passing by Guo Daigong’s Old Residence" (, ("Daigong" here is the short for "DaiGuoGong", or Duke), in which Du Fu paid ode to Guo Yuanzhen (a general, diplomat, and chancellor of the Tang Dynasty). When recalling Guo Yuanzhen’s military achievements in defending and protecting the Tang Dynasty, Du Fu wrote expressing his admiration for Guo by writing "The general outstanding other famous ministers and the "danqing" (his painting) illuminates the central pavilion."
Other names.
In his book "Some Technical Terms of Chinese Painting", first published in 1935 and again in 1969, author Benjamin March transliterated the word "丹青" using the Wade–Giles romanization system as "Tan Ch'ing" and translated it as 1) "red and blue" and 2) "painting, the art of painting" in English.
Famous "Danqing" masters.
In China, ancients called the painter "D"anqing" Hand" (), the outstanding painter ""Danqing" Miaoshou" (), or "Marvelous "Danqing" Hand", while folks called the painter the ""Danqing" Master" (). 