I paint. A large proportion of the pigments I use are indeed toxic, as the non-toxic substitutes are markedly inferior in both lightfastness and saturation. Lead is now quite uncommon thanks to zinc and titanium oxide pigments, but cadmium, cobalt, chromium and manganese compounds are widely used in high quality paints. In practice, this toxicity is a non-issue if you're sensible enough not to lick your brushes.

Chinese painters are probably less likely to use toxic pigments than their western peers for reasons of cost - a good quality cadmium paint is two to three times more expensive than a non-toxic substitute.