The high glue content makes the pigment bind better to Chinese paper and silk as well as enabling works of art to survive the wet-mounting process of Chinese hanging scroll mountings without smudging or bleeding.
Traditionally, Chinese pigments come in form of chips, cakes or powder made from natural plant and minerals.
Traditional pigments require some skill and knowledge to mix as some pigments do not blend well with others (e.g. herbal and stone colours generally do not combine well).
Some of the pigments use natural plant ('herbal') or minerals ('stone') that are poisonous or toxic.
Outside of these traditional pigments, other colours are made from synthetic chemicals.