Abstract: Although the discipline of Chinese art history has been questioned since its establishment,it is not difficult to comply with a reasonable response:western art history is becoming more and more comprehensive and culturally diverse from a historical study of different art categories,and China's cultural,academic and artistic traditions have their own motives for writing art history.The disciplinary potentiality of Chinese art history lies in two aspects:firstly,the establishment of the discipline system itself;secondly,the Chinese-style integration of art categories and academic traditions.There are various paths of the art history discipline,such as history of art categories,history of art categories with a broader perspective,conceptual art history,comparative art history,as well as cross-category and comprehensive art history.The reflection on the disciplinary paths of art history may lead to the art historiography—a retrospection on the methods or paths of art history research.The discipline of Chinese art history is composed of three branches:general history of art,inter-media or inter-disciplinary art history,and art historiography.

Key words: the discipline of Chinese art history, inter-category art history, inter-disciplinary art history, art historiography