King Chia-lun feels dissatisfied with a phenomenon that, lots of Chinese art enthusiasts prefer to learn "modern ink painting" instead of "traditional Chinese painting". He accuses such distorted value as being influenced by the Western utilitarian values in aesthetic judgments.
However, if you go through the explanations by Liu Guosong, you will find that modern ink painting also inherits the "bimo" spirits (brush and ink spirits) of ancient Song paintings. Also, "shuimo" comprises a greater extent of literary sentiments as less concerns are put onto the issue of anatomy and absolute realism.
But, it still cannot be denied that, a good foundation in calligraphic methodicalness and Lingnan landscape comprehension is still advantageous in developing modern ink paintings with vivid spiritual essences. This talk aims at discussing the objectiveness and biases in the review of Mr. King's article.