Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou (揚州八怪) is the name for a group of Chinese painters in the Qing dynasty for rejecting the orthodox ideas about painting in favor of a style deemed expressive and individualist. The term was also used because they each had strong personalities at variance with the conventions of their time. Most of them were from impoverished or troubled backgrounds. Still the term is, generally, more a statement about their artistic style than any social eccentricities.
The Eight Eccentrics generally refer to Zheng Xie (鄭燮, 1693–1765), Jin Nong (金農, 1687–1763), Wang Shishen (汪士慎, 1686–1759), Huang Shen (黃慎, 1687–ca. 1770), Li Shan (李鱓, 1686–1756), Gao Xiang (高翔, 1688–1753), Li Fangying (李方膺, 1695–1755), and Luo Pin (羅聘, 1733–1799).
There are also several other painters who are closely associated with the Eight Eccentrics and the Yangzhou School, including Hua Yan (華嵒, 1682–1756), Gao Fenghan (高鳳翰, 1683–1749), Bian Shoumin (邊壽民, 1684–1752), and others.
