Eastern Vs Western use of perspective:

Most  Chinese landscape painters use a flattened perspective. As a result, when you look at a Chinese landscape painting, there is no certain point to guide you and you might feel confused when you first look at it.  It’s Not a Mistake, It’s a Different Goal Western art acts like a camera snapshot. It assumes you are standing still, looking through a window at one specific moment.

Eastern art acts like a drone or a GoPro. It assumes you are moving through the landscape.

Three Key Reasons:

• The Walking Eye: Instead of staring at one spot, Eastern artists wanted you to "hike" through the painting with your eyes. The perspective shifts as you look up the mountain or down into the valley.

• The "Video Game" View: Think of games like The Sims or Minecraft. Eastern art often keeps lines parallel rather than making them touch in the distance. This lets them show you a huge, wide scene without the edges getting distorted.

• Scrolls are like Timelines: A lot of Eastern art was painted on long scrolls that you unroll slowly. You can't use a single "vanishing point" (like in Western art) on a moving image, or it would look warped.

The Bottom Line: Western art tries to show you exactly what an eye sees. Eastern art tries to show you what the mind feels when exploring nature.