As China's paintings with independent significance, we can now see the earliest physical objects, namely 1949 "Dragon and Phoenix Painted as Man" unearthed from the Chu Tomb of the Warring States Period in Chenjiadashan, Changsha, Hunan Province, and 1973 "Dragon and Phoenix Painted as Man" unearthed from the Chu Tomb of the Warring States Period in Changsha Ammunition Depot. These two silk paintings have a history of more than 2,300 years, which can be described as the originator of scroll paintings in China.

Silk Painting of Dragon and Phoenix Figures is characterized by lines, which are concise and bright, with red dots on the lips of the figures. Although lines show the childishness of early painting, we can see the unique style of China's traditional painting-line modeling, which was formed in the Warring States period and accumulated considerable experience in using pens and coloring. However, this painting has a rough description of the characters' faces, with a certain decorative meaning, showing the childishness of early painting.

The silk painting of the figure dragon is slightly later than the previous painting, probably at the turn of the middle and late Warring States period. Its theme is clearer than the former, its artistic expression is greatly improved, its characters are vivid, its lines are uniform and stiff, its flying is smooth, and it is richer and more rhythmic than the former. Coloring is also very complicated. After single-line painting, plane painting and rendering are used together, and gold powder and white powder are added in some places. It is also the earliest work that has been discovered so far. It can be said that China's meticulous and heavy-colored painting was formed more than 2000 years ago, from which we can see that the painting at that time reached a very high level, which laid the foundation for the development of China's painting art.