Chinese litarary writing, caligraphy art and Chinese painting were the province of the wealthy, the officials or those supported by them. The writers and artists wrote and painted with writing implements such as brushes and pointed pens that they dipped in ink. At the Shanghai Museum of Pen and Ink in Shanghai's Huangpu district, you can not only see displays of art and writing utensils of past dynastic eras but also be instructed on masterpieces of various styles of ancient art and calligraphy.

In ancient China, cultured writing, painting and calligraphy were highly appreciated arts. Since writing the language was so difficult, basically only those with a lot of leisure such as officials of the empires or the wealthy could write cultured prose in the complex literary language. The literary language developed over a two thousand year period after the Qin Dynasty imposed an imperial literary language on their territory. Art and calligraphy art were also mainly engaged in by the wealthy or political officials. At the museum, you can see materials that were sold in common pen and ink shops before the 20th century, writing and art utensils, multimedia exhibits, and examples of masterpieces of ancient artistic writing and artwork.