Why did ancient literati want to play chess, calligraphy and painting?

"Qinqi calligraphy and painting, poetry, wine and tea" is not a poem, so there is no whole poem.

"Qin, chess, books, paintings, poems, wine, flowers and tea" are actually eight elegant things of the ancients. Those who are good at piano are easy to understand, those who are good at chess are good at planning wisdom, those who are good at books are full of emotion, those who are good at painting are good at beauty, and those who are good at poetry are full of feelings, those who are good at wine are close to their bosom friends, those who are good at flowers are happy in character, and those who are good at tea cultivate sentiment.

Extended information:

In ancient times, playing the piano (mostly referring to playing the guqin), playing chess (mostly referring to China chess and Go), calligraphy and painting were the skills that literati (including some noble families) had to master to cultivate themselves, so they were collectively called "four friends of literati". Nowadays, it often expresses personal cultural accomplishment.

On the long couplet of Qin, Qi, Calligraphy and Painting:

The first couplet: Singing Taibai Poems, Nourishing Haoran, Reciting Jia Xuan's Ci, Zhuang Bao's National Conditions, Han Qing's Songs, Caring for People's Livelihood, Studying Dongpo's articles with a childlike heart and a hundred generations of articles, attracting people to put it down, and educating wise men endlessly

The second couplet: Fu Zhong Ni Qin Mu You Lan Xiang and Yao Di Chess, Seeking the World's Potential, The Right Army's Books