These were the eight outstanding artists active in the Yangzhou area during Qing Emperors Kangxi's(1662-1722) and Qianlong's(1736-1795) reigns. They boasted unique personalities and magical styles of painting. Their names are: Wang Shishen (1686-1762?), Li Shan (1686-1762), Jin Nong (1687-1763), Huang Shen (1687-1768?), Gao Xiang (1688-1753), Zheng Xie (1693-1765), Li Fangying (1695-1754) and Luo Pin (1733-1799) (a slightly different list of names also exists). They were mostly officials who had fallen from favor or scholars who had failed to accomplish what they aspired to achieve, and therefore found an outlet for their pent-up anger through painting and calligraphy. Disdaining conventional ways of painting, they created novel styles of their own, breaking new ground in the fields of calligraphy-in-painting, pure calligraphy, and seal cutting. For their unique accomplishments, they were called "wayward geniuses" and "weirdoes" by their contemporaries. Their more honorable title was "The Magical Eight Painters of Yangzhou." They exerted a profound influence on modern period painters such as Qi Baishi (1864-1957) and Chen Shizeng (1876-1923).

Articles which unravel the mysteries of heaven and earth, writing that triggers thunder and rainstorms, invectives unleashed against evil spirits, and paintings that defy all established rules - all these things are hardly noticed by ordinary people. (Collected Works of Zheng Banqiao)

It is a pity that the eight men who emerged in the same period, with their styles of painting distinct from the mainstream style of the time, did not have a unified means of expression, despite their renown as "The Magical Eight." (Wang Jun: Biographies of Painters of Yangzhou)