After more than a decade of brutal war, in 1368 Zhu Yuanzhang emerged as the victorious general of the warring factions of South China, eliminated the separatist forces, chased Emperor Shuidi of the Yuan dynasty out of Beijing, and established the Mind dynasty, which ruled until 1644.

In the field of painting, during the early Ming Dynasty, painting academies were reestablished, ushering in a flourishing period of court painting. Achievements in flower and bird painting were particularly outstanding. Beyond the court, two prominent schools of painting emerged: the Zhe school led by Dai Jin and the Jiangxia School led by Wu Wei. Both Dai Jin and Wu Wei were professional artists and versatile in all painting genres.

By the mid-Ming period, in the city of Wu (present-day Suzhou), artists like Shen Zhou and Wen Zhengming emerged. They inherited the traditions of literati painting from the Song and Yuan periods and eventually formed the influential 'Wu School'. The rise of the Wu School challenged the favored status of professional artists, and literati painting gradually became the mainstream in the art world.