Flowers in the Heart of Life (Illustrated Collector's Edition)

Author: Shen Fu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: On the twenty-second day of the eleventh month in the winter of the Guimai year of the Qianlong reign, I was living in the prosperous era, in a family of refined culture, by the side of the Canglang Pavilion in Suzhou. The favor bestowed upon me by heaven can be said to be the greatest. Su Dongpo once said, "Things are like spring dreams, leaving no trace behind." If they are not recorded in writing, it would be a great injustice to the kindness of heaven. Therefore, I thought that since "Guan Ju" is the first among the three hundred odes, I should place the chapters on husband and wife at the beginning, followed by the others in order. Six Records of a Floating Life includes "Joy in the Inner Chamber," "Leisurely Pleasures," "Miseries in Hardship," "Joy in Wandering," "Chronicles of Zhongshan," and "The Way of Health Preservation." The appendix includes the following: Shen Sanbai of Changzhou showed me the "Six Records of a Floating Life" and composed six quatrains for it, the preface to "Six Records of a Floating Life," the preface to "Six Records of a Floating Life," the postscript to "Six Records of a Floating Life," the preface to the English translation of "Six Records of a Floating Life," the preface to the reprint of "Six Records of a Floating Life," the postscript after reading the annotations of "Six Records of a Floating Life," the mystery of the lost manuscripts of "Six Records of a Floating Life," and the search for Yunniang.