This article traces back to ancient times from the painting theory of Gu Kaizhi of Jin Dynasty,and concludes that paintings in ancient times pursued imitating forms,while those in Wei and Jin went further on "representing spirit in form".After the Song Dynasty,the theory on form and spirit"the form departing from the outward appearance of the object"got developed and perfected,deriving from Gu Kaizhi's "spirit-giving" theory.