Reddit mentions of Gardner's Art Through the Ages: A Global History: 1

Sure thing! A good thing to check out if you're interested in Art History in the slightest would be something like Gardner's Art Through the Ages: A Global History. It can be quite expensive but a lot of the same material can be found through online sources or through me if you have any messages! Sources on this topic specifically are hard to come by if you're looking for textbooks or published papers. Some quick things that I found that have helped me in the past:

• This book gives a pretty good overview of Pre-History bronzes and jadework of China. It doesn't really get into calligraphy in the preview, but it might help spark interest. I really like the earlier works of the Shang, Han, and Qin dynasties! They're really cool to learn about.
  
  
• This source is more specific to calligraphy. It is very comprehensive and gives a little background on the type of follow-up question you asked regarding brush stroke and technique.
  
  To "tldr;" your leisure question....well, it's complicated. Skilled calligraphers that existed back around the time I mentioned....don't really exist anymore. Contemporary Chinese art broke away from these traditions and focuses heavily on political imagery (Communism vs. Capitalism), etc. However, there are some traditions that remained constant in these 'shan-shui' works. First of all, the callophone is a dead giveaway. Nearly every nature scene is accompanied by the poem to add to the composition.
  
  Another strange tradition they had was in the viewing of these scrolls. If you asked a person to look at your work and they unfolded the entire thing and said "Wow!", they would be very wrong. These pictures were meant to be unfolded gradually and appreciated piece-by-piece. They were almost never fully unrolled at one time. It gave the viewer a greater sense of piece when they can look at the incredible detail of the piece rather than be overwhelmed by everything.
  
  I also mentioned before that, aside from Guo Xi, artists didn't sign their work. They were known solely by their handwriting. Only master calligraphers could tell the difference between the brushstrokes of Guo Xi and Ma Yuan.
  
  Another 'tradition,' I guess, would be that traditional Chinese artists will know the difference between a Chinese artist's work and a foreigner's work. It is weird to think of in our cultural context, but for example when the Jesuits were on their way to China to follow their religious duties, several of them became renowned artists of this style, but were never recognized as successful because they weren't Chinese. An example of this would be Giuseppe Castiglione. He was much later than the masters Guo Xi and Ma Yuan.
  
  I suppose another key feature of these types of works would be the subject matter. The topography of China is weird. Very weird. So the art would reflect that with strange mountains and hills that look almost imaginary. Well they are completely imaginary. They're a figment of the artist's imagination, but they are based on the topography of China. So if an artist painted a work that resembles nothing like China, you can be pretty sure that they're not really accurate. There is also a convention about the perspective. The artists often achieved multiple-perspective works. They would take an image, break it apart, and show it to the viewer from multiple directions. It would be equivalent to looking at 3 different parts of a mountain in one image. This might go back to the way in which these works were presented though. So if a work is accurate geographically, it is probably inaccurate.
  
  I hope that answers your question! There aren't really any solid rules or conventions though. It was mainly just a purpose of meditation for the literati. So long as the artist was at peace, they succeeded.
  
  

There is a bunch of different books on a bunch of different art movements, so it depends on what you would be interested in. The theory and philosophy, techniques, general art history, etc.

There are also many different approaches that authors, critics and such take when viewing or talking about art. I may be just making your search worse..

I have read a few things about contemporary art and the art world by Dave Hickey. There is a lot out there.
A more general art history that I have used is Gardner's Art Through The Ages. http://www.amazon.com/Gardners-Art-through-Ages-History/dp/111177157X

You might get lost in the search, but good luck!