The subject matter of Chinese sculpture is quite extensive. From the description of the whole book, we can see that figures, animals (including imaginary and fictitious animals), natural landscapes, historical stories, myths and legends, life scenes, music and dance performances, etc. can be used as sculptures. performance content. In Western sculptures, people are always the central representation of sculptures. In ancient Western sculptures, the human image occupies the vast majority of the number. In theory, the human image is also consciously placed in the most prominent position. Chinese sculpture is different. Animal images account for a relatively large proportion. Especially in the pre-Qin and Qin and Han dynasties (that is, before the prosperity of Buddhist sculpture), animal images were more successful in art than human images. Therefore, in terms of the subject matter of Chinese sculpture, the central position of people is not as prominent as that of Western sculptures. Although Chinese sculptures still have the most figures in terms of absolute numbers, they are relatively less conspicuous.

　　It is unique in the history of world sculpture that Chinese people introduce natural landscape into sculpture. Such as the Tang Dynasty's landscape sculptures, mountain figurines, Yang Huizhi's "Shanshui Sculpture Wall", Guo Xi's "Shadow Wall", small craft jade carvings, wood carvings, bamboo carvings, fruit stone carvings and other expressions of natural scenery, temples and other buildings There are a large number of cliffs and wall sculptures with landscape scenery as the content. It can be said that almost everything that Chinese plastic arts can express can be found in sculpture.

　　It is not accidental that Chinese sculpture is free, bold, and not bound to a specific object of expression. Take the expression of human images as an example, in the early Western sculptures, the ancient Egyptians made statues to replicate the image of human beings and save life in pursuit of immortality; the ancient Greeks used the image of the unity of man and god to achieve the most harmonious relationship. , find their ideal world in the most perfect human body. Regarding the immortality of life, the Chinese do not pay attention to the preservation of physical life but focus on the realization of people's social obligations and responsibilities. Chinese people pay attention to the so-called "three immortality" of "virtue", "merit" and "word", and what they pursue is the realization of people's spiritual character in the real society, rather than the pursuit of personal immortality that is divorced from social ethics. Before the introduction of Buddhism, the Chinese people's religious outlook was relatively indifferent, and idol making and worship were underdeveloped. Taking Taoism as an example, Taoism originally did not create images, and advocated: "Tao has no form" and "Tao has no form". In the Dunhuang version of Lao Tzu's Annotation to Er, it said: "The Tao is supreme, subtle and hidden, with no shape or image." It was not until the introduction of Buddhism that Taoism began to make statues. In early China, there were few images of gods, and idol worship was not popular, which is an important reason for the relatively small number of statues. Among other peoples in the world, the image of human beings is often developed gradually on the basis of the early humanoid gods. As for the entry of natural landscapes into sculpture, it is related to the Chinese nation's early awareness of natural beauty and the close relationship between sculpture and painting.