Hua Yan (1682- 1756), nicknamed Desong or Qiuyue, is also known as Silla cobbler, Dongyuan cobbler, Cloth cobbler, Baisha cobbler and Li Xiu cobbler. In his later years, he was nicknamed "floating canopy". Originally from Jiayang, Shanghang, Fujian (formerly known as Baisha cobbler), later named Hangzhou. Draw figures, landscapes, flowers, birds and insects, get rid of old habits, pursue ancient methods and write about animals. He was an outstanding painter in Qing Dynasty and one of the representatives of Yangzhou School of Painting. Hua Yan was a famous painter in Kang Yong period in Qing Dynasty. His birds are the best and the most famous.

Yangzhou painting school has different artistic characteristics, but there are also some similarities. First of all, most of them come from the intellectual class. Although there are also small officials, they all make a living by selling paintings and live a poor life. Secondly, they all pay attention to artistic individuality, innovation and writing style, and are good at using ink and wash freehand brushwork, with strong subjective and emotional colors in the picture. They also paint with calligraphy, paying attention to the organic combination of poetry and calligraphy. These factors make them form a strong artistic trend, inject vitality into the painting world with innovative spirit, and have an important impact on the development of ink freehand brushwork.

"Yangzhou Painting School" is the general name of innovative painters who were active in Yangzhou painting circle in Jiangsu during the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty, that is, "Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics". There are different opinions about their numbers and names. Eight people were mentioned in the Examination of Roche's Calligraphy and Painting: Wang Shizhen, Huang Shen, Li, Zheng Xie, Li and Luo. More than eight people, the name is not fixed. Mian Shoumin, Gao, Li Mian, Min Zhen, Hua Yan and Chen Zhuan are all Mian Shoumin, Gao, Li Mian, Min Zhen, Hua Yan and Chen Zhuan. Zheng Xie (Banqiao No.1) occupies a prominent position. The common feature of this school of painting is that many of them are unsuccessful and have never been an official.

Some of them gave up their junior officials after a few years to specialize in painting. They are cynical, do not flatter the powerful, and understand the sufferings of the people. Pay attention to the influence of thought, personality, knowledge and talent on painting creation. They have high literacy in literature and calligraphy. The main themes of painting are flowers, landscapes and figures. It inherited the innovative spirit of Xu Wei, Zhu Da, Shi Tao and others, advocated independence, expressed true feelings, and opposed imitation and mud painting style at that time. They are regarded as "deviant teachers" and "monsters", so they are called "eight eccentrics". Wang Yun, the guardian of the "orthodox" painting style at that time, commented on them like this. "When there are eight different teachers, the painting is not a whole.