Six Records of a Floating Life

I decided to read "Six Records of a Floating Life" after spending a summer in Suzhou, the city of Shen Fu's birth and his home for many years. When describing this work, my Chinese friends were quick to use words like "romantic" and "touching". However I was skeptical since I had also heard that this book detailed Shen Fu's relationship not only with his wife, Yun, but also concubines and courtesans - thus setting it far outside the scope of what is traditionally considered "romantic" by modern, Western standards. Yet, if one is willing to keep an open mind and look at Shen Fu's extra-marital relations (which are, in fact, treated very briefly) within the context of the time and culture during which he wrote, one can see that that author and his wife were very much in love and cared passionately for each other for more than twenty years. Fu's description of the airy joys and carefree pleasures they experienced together as husband and wife are sure to bring a smile to the face of anyone who's every been in love. Yet, with great happiness Shen Fu also experienced great pain and numerous hardships. Considered a failure in both business and scholarship, he was never wealthy and he struggled to provide even a modest living for himself and his family. Indeed, Fu drifted from place to place, job to job, often relying on friends and relatives to provide him with money and shelter. Adding to the pressures of poverty was his wife's chronic illness, which eventually took her life. Shen Fu's description of his wife's death is truely heart-breaking, as he writes: "Her spirit vanished in the mist and she began her long journey... When it happened there was a solitary lamp burning in the room. I looked up but saw nothing, there was nothing for my two hands to hold, and my heart felt as if it would shatter" (p. 89) Part romance, part tragedy, part travelogue and part memoir this book indeed lives up to it's reputation as a classic. Shen Fu articulates the joys and sorrows of ordinary human life with the skill of an artist, and he is always someone with whom we can identify. Like we all do, he struggled to find peace and comfort while trying to bear the weight of sadness. Whether you're interested in Chinese history and culture or not, this book deserves to be read and appreciated.

If one reads the introduction, this book is not meant to be read as a sequential narrative, instead it is a collection of memoirs and hence the word "records" in the title. Through this collection of records and memoirs, readers are welcomed to peer into segments of the author's bumpy life. The records follow Shen Fu on his numerous failed attempts to find contentment in life: As an educated man, Shen Fu tried to gain a position through civil examinations but got nowhere, he tried his hand at being a painter but found that he had no talent, he made friends with people who eventually betrayed him, he got into debt and was disowned by his father, and the final blow came when he lost his child and beloved wife, Yun. In the end Shen Fu's decided to live a "floating Life" by giving up worldly matters to wander China. Shen Fu is also a groundbreaking author. He is very descriptive of his environment, which is uncharacteristic of Chinese writers of his time. Through Shen Fu's accounts the reader can experience the long lost customs of ancient China, for example, lonely men with a bit of pocket money can visit brothel boats sitting "like aimless floating leaves" on the river. Moreover, Shen Fu's accounts of his wife, Yun, were against conventions because he does not cease in describing her only as a dutiful wife and daughter-in-law according to Confucian ideology, but he portrays her as an intelligent and adventurous woman who was willing to dress up as a man to visit a temple (which forbids women) with him. To Shen Fu, Yun was his soul mate and she transcends his memoirs into a love story. She is present from his first record, "The Joys of the Wedding Chamber" where they first met as an arranged marriage to his last record, "The Delights of Roaming Afar" where Shen Fu is constantly reminded of Yun, long after her death, when he travelled to places he wished he had brought her to. Lastly, Shen Fu's tone is full of indignant passion making him an amusing storyteller. The translators (Leonard Pratt and Chiang Su-hui) translate Shen Fu's work without losing his ease and personality, making the book a delightful read. Keeping in mind that not many authors in feudal China reveal an honest account of their times and even less-so the intimate accounts of their domestic life, this autobiography is wonderfully rare.

"Six Records" (also known as "Six Chapters of a Floating Life"), c. 1805, is an extraordinarily frank autobiography that is totally unprecedented and unparalleled in the history of Chinese literature. It describes the life of the author Shen Fu and his beloved wife, Ch'en Yun (1763-1803), in extremely revealing detail. The intimacy and joy shared by the couple are as unusual by normal standards of Chinese married life as is the author's daringness in revealing them to others. Their close, playful relationship stands in defiant opposition to the staid decorum of married life expected by Confucian ideology.A thoroughly enjoyable and inspiring read. Ch'en Yun is a woman ahead of her time who admirably balances her love of learning and passion for life with her duties and obligations as a traditional Chinese wife.

a very, very good book to get to know the everyday life of late imperial Chinese!

This is a most charming and touching story of a poor Chinese scholar-painter struggling to make a decent living under poverty and mounting debts. In his autobiography, Shen Fu shares with us his experiences, his love for a talented wife and other simple things in life, his family and friends, and travels throughout Manchu China. Despite mounting poverty, he has great passion for living and these records of his experiences and impressions are as relevant to us as it were to him 200 years ago. A highly recommended book and a definite "must-read" over the weekend.