近年来，水彩画在中国发展之快，令人惊喜。从小学开始，水彩画和蜡笔画相结合，出现了多彩并深受儿童喜欢的蜡笔水彩。从中学开始，水彩画成为美术课的主要学习画种，可以说，中国不少当代画家，是由水彩画步入艺术之门的。

There is astonishing proliferation of watercolours in recent years in China. In primary school art classes, watercolour combined with crayon drawing is encouraged and children are fond of this new genre. In middle schools, watercolour is one of the main subjects of art. One can say with certainty that many contemporary Chinese artists have started their career by painting watercolors.

水彩画在十八世纪传入中国。那时被称为水彩画之乡的英国，已进入资本主义社会，为了开拓贸易，发展领地，英国用坚船利炮及商品打开了中国的通商口岸，水彩画及水彩颜料也在中国商埠口岸出现。

The genre of watercolour was introduced into China in the 18th century. By then. in order to expand its trade and influence, Britain, the home of watercolours, which had already adopted capitalism, entered the Chinese market forcefully with its commodities/forced China to open its trading ports with ships and cannons and commodities. It was then that watercolours and the pigments used for them appeared in the port cities of China. 

水彩画的用笔及对水分的运用，与中国的传统绘画相似，这一画种一出现，立即引起中国画家的重视。西方画家对光与色的认识，也使中国画家深感有趣。上海的海派画家们，在没骨画的技法基础上，创造了一批风格新颖、水分淋漓的中国式水彩画作品，其中又以花鸟画形式居多。一百多年以后，中国的画家们在水彩画的创新方面做了许多努力与探索。近年来又涌现出了不少水彩画新秀。

Since the use of brush and application of water in the painting of watercolour was similar with that of traditional Chinese painting, the new genre drew the immediate attention of Chinese artists. They were particularly fascinated with the way the Western artists treated light and colour. Based on the Chinese technique of mogu painting（boneless painting with strong and economical brushstrokes) , Artists of the Shanghai School created novel-style Chinese watercolours with unsparingly applied water, and with the main theme of birds and flowers. A century has passed, and Chinese artists have made great strides in developing watercolours. Recently there have emerged a number of young watercolour painters.

来源：翻译大王