Chinese Scholar's Rocks are naturally formed or "sculptured" stones in surprising shapes and textures. They have been collected by scholars since ancient time and are now gaining growing popularity in the West to appreciate their artistic value. Many museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC have permanent exhibits of those magnificent stones. Major newspapers, NYT, WSJ, Washington Post and Boston Globe have written articles on the subject and called them "Rock Stars", "New Hot Stones" and "3-D Paintings".

The term "scholar's rock" is used to describe rocks of a distinctive shape, texture, and color that were deemed appropriate for display in the scholar's studio.

Many museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC have permanent exhibits of those magnificent stones. Major newspapers, NYT, WSJ, Washington Post and Boston Glob have written articles on the subject and called them "Rock Stars", "New Hot Stones" and "3-D Paintings".

Especially prized are stones that have been sculpted naturally by processes of erosion or that appear to have been shaped by nature even if they have been artfully enhanced by man. Pitted, hollowed out, and perforated, such rocks, which are often displayed on end, are seen as embodiments of the dynamic transformational processes of nature. By the Tang dynasty (618–907), four principal aesthetic criteria—thinness (shou), openness (tou), perforations (lou), and wrinkling (zhou)—had been identified for judging scholars' rocks as well as the larger examples featured in gardens. Besides these formal qualities, rocks were also admired for their resemblance to mountains or caves, particularly the magical peaks and subterranean paradises (grotto-heavens) believed to be inhabited by immortal beings. Some rocks were appreciated for their resemblance to animals, birds, human figures, or mythical creatures.

Although a few scholars' rocks were shaped and textured entirely by Nature, most show evidence of hand working with chisels, burins, and drills; the extent of such carving ranges from mere finishing, to substantial texturing, to full sculpturing. The creation of scholars' rocks has remained an anonymous tradition, as have most Chinese crafts–bronzes, jades, ceramics, lacquers, and textiles, for example. The names in the inscriptions that sometimes appear on rocks thus are usually those of collectors, not those of lapidary artists.