The reason why Dong Xue became that theme of popular painting in Song dynasty.

The reasons why Dong Xueshu became a popular painting theme in Song Dynasty are: 1. First, the Song Dynasty was a unified centralized country in the history of our country. Political stability promotes economic development, but also leads to the expansion of the civil class; Secondly, the development of commodity economy has promoted the growth of the mission class, led to the diversification of people's cultural life needs, and provided material conditions and consumer groups for the development and prosperity of painting; In addition, painting as a literary form of its own development, the inheritance and development of painting in Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties, the promotion of rulers' hobbies and so on. For various reasons, Orientalism became a popular painting theme in Song Dynasty.

2. Literati painting in Song Dynasty has a wide range of themes, and has its own unique requirements in theme selection, image processing and aesthetic taste. Themes are mostly historical hermits and fishermen, as well as all aspects of ordinary people's lives in urban and rural areas, which shows that painters pay attention to the expansion of their horizons and the deepening of real life. The artistic characteristics of literati painting are also reflected in the active discussion of painting theory, such as paying attention to subjective expression and the use of pen and ink effects. Scholar-officials pursue spiritual pleasure and aim at self-enjoyment. They like to inscribe poems on picture frames, and introduce the expressive forms of calligraphy art into painting, which greatly enriches and improves the expressive means of painting art.