The other part of the Shang culture was the art of scribes who were hired by city officials. The scribes composed poetry and wrote inscriptions on oracle bones. The scribes either painted the writings with ink, or they engraved them. These inscriptions also were put in the graves of royal families. The inscriptions were made with over three thousand characters, and not all of them are yet deciphered. The writings are vertical, moving to the left and their content is yet a mystery. However, some of them are known to tell the future by answering questions in a "yes or no" fashion. Although Chinese art during the Shang dynasty included inscriptions, the most significant part of it was the pottery. The small sculptures formed the foundation for future crafts in the Tang Dynasty. .
The Tang Dynasty was the next significant dynasty with an artistic contribution after Shang. Unfortunately, many artifacts from this time in history deteriorated for they were mostly of silk, but paintings of daily life show us what kinds of crafts were made back then. A painting of Tang life shows women preparing silk for the emperor, Hsu-tsung, who spent his time of painting landscapes on silk. Most of the Tang painters were devoted to painting landscapes - it was a sign of nobility. Hsu- Tsung hired court painters who helped him on his artwork. Two famous painters were Chou Fang and Chang Huan, who were always treated with respect. It was considered a great accomplishment to be one of the court painters.
There were two schools, The Northern School and the Southern School, where children were taught how to paint. These two schools had different techniques of painting, but the instructors were both very dignified. The Northern School's instructor was a court painter named Li ssu-hsun. He taught to paint with vibrant colors such as green, gold, blue, and yellow. The instructor of the Southern School was a poet painter named Wang Wei.