The Way of Chinese Painting is based on Mai-mai Sze's The Tao of Painting, published in two large volumes by the Bollingen Foundation in 1956. Kenneth Rexroth in the Nation wrote of Miss Sze's book: "Every American artist and art critic should buy and study this book. Nothing could be a better answer to the problems and dilemmas of modern abstract expressionism. Nothing could be a better antidote to the enervating poisons which have debilitated modern painting."

In this shorter version, the author defines the essence of Chinese painting as a form of art as well as a way of life, and in her translation of the classic Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting  demonstrates the technique as well as the spirit of Chinese painting.