China's traditional color system carries the aesthetic genes and cultural codes of a millennia-old civilization. From the cosmology of "celestial black and earthly yellow" to the philosophical concept of "five-color coordination," it has formed a unique Eastern discourse on color. As an important medium for visual communication, contemporary illustration provides diverse pathways for the inheritance and innovation of traditional colors. This paper, with cultural inheritance as its core perspective, explores the cultural connotations and contemporary values of traditional colors. It focuses on analyzing three core expressive techniques in contemporary illustration: symbolic refinement, technical translation, and digital reconstruction. By combining exemplary creative cases and teaching practices, the paper discusses the integration paths between traditional color elements and contemporary illustration language, offering theoretical references and practical insights for the living inheritance of traditional culture in the field of visual arts.