Applying Fractal and Chaos Theory to Animation in the Chinese Literati Tradition

This paper describes and tests the hypothesis that that which ancient Chinese philosophy searched for, the Tao, is the same principle as that found in modern Chaos and Fractal Theories. An elucidation of several key principles and notions of Chinese art theory is offered, coupled with fractal notions from Chaos theory. It is argued that Chinese art is an abstract form of symbolic brush-strokes, which elicit intrinsic mathematic values. An example of a modern evolving (animated) fractal form based on this notion is given to test our hypothesis.