The Ink Bamboo by Zheng Xie

Once, when working as a county magistrate, Zheng Xie wrote on one of his bamboo paintings: "Listening to the waving bamboo lying in my office, I imagine it to be the complaints of the people; low is the rank of a county magistrate, I am concerned about every detail of the life of my people."

The eight eccentric painters had similar life experiences, ideas and sentiments. They were all born in poor but intellectual families, served but resigned from (or never served) the Qing imperial government and made their living by selling their paintings. They looked down upon the Qing officials because of their corruption, and expressed their anger and discontent in their paintings and calligraphy.

Most of their flower and bird paintings were drawn in free sketches, and their paintings were unconventional and had strongly subjective moods. Their paintings were not fully understood by many people at the time and were considered eccentric. But they opened a new era in Chinese painting history and created new flower and bird painting methods.

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