The four arts(四艺,琴棋书画)

The four arts (四艺,琴棋书画), or the four arts of the Chinese scholar, were the four main academic and artistic accomplishments required of the aristocratic ancient Chinese scholar-gentleman caste. They are qin (the guqin, a stringed instrument. 琴), qi (the strategy game of Go, 棋), shu (Chinese calligraphy 书) and hua (Chinese painting画). It was also the accomplishments required of girls from respectable families.

Traditionally in China, a well-educated, or learned person should possess comprehensive skills or qualities, e.g. artistic, academic and socializing ones. Officials, politicians, princes and emperors are all educated to possess such "self-cultivation", and it did turn out that most of the prominent figures in history were quite versatile.