Li Shan was born in Hsing-hua, Kiangsu province, into a prominent family of scholars and officials. He was schooled early on in painting as well as poetry and, during the Kang-hsi reign (1662-1723), he earned an appointment to the Imperial Study. With the death of the Kang-hsi emperor, Li Shan moved to Yangchou where his declining fortune forced him to increasingly paint and produce calligraphy for a living. His talents were recognized and he was eventually categorized as one of the Eight Eccentrics of Yang-chou.

While the real subject of this unusual painting of a giant rutabaga is ink play and expressive brushwork, the artist's inscription adds to the playfulness:

Master Chung-t'ing the minister requested me to paint for him a Fu-yang rutabaga. It is reported that during late Han an army of Ts'ao (d. A.D. 220) numbering 830,000 descended on Chiang-nan and could only eat half of one so its size cannot be exaggerated. No one knew how many thousands of feet high the bridge at Loyang was and a man from Fu-yang wished to go and look at it. Along the way, he met a man from Lo-yang going to Fu-yang to view the giant rutabaga. The Fu-yang man related the story of the rutabaga and the Lo-yang man declined to go on (concluding that it was just a tall tale). The man from Lo-yang then described the height of the bridge: "During the seventh lunar month of last year a boy jumped from the bridge. It is now almost spring and he has yet to hit the water." The Fu-yang man then decided not to go (to Lo-yang concluding the Lo-yang man was just a braggart).

Recorded and painted by Li Shan