Six Records of a Floating Life

Author: Shen Fu
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2000-08-01
Features: I obtained the book Six Records of a Floating Life from a dusty stall in the prefectural city. Two of the six records were missing, yet they were still the author's handwritten manuscripts. Based on what was recorded, I learned that the author was a man named Shen with the courtesy name Sanbai, though his given name was lost, and I searched the city in vain for anyone who knew him. The book was deeply admired by several scholars, including Ye Tongjun, the magistrate of Wulin, Pan Maocai, Gu Yunqiao, the hermit, and Tao Qijun, the scholar. Lord Wang of the garden sent me six quatrains by Guan Shi of Yanghu Lake on Six Records of a Floating Life, which revealed that the missing Records of Zhongshan must have mentioned a journey to Ryukyu. The excellence of the book is well noted in the preface written by the author. The recent monk is the author himself, who also used the small seal "Floating life is like a dream, how much joy can be found?" and stamped it on the cover. July 7, 1897, by the monk of Dugu An, Yang Yintuan.
This book is a selected collection of Qing Dynasty Chinese anecdotes. Six Records of a Floating Life is a life chronicle by Shen Fu of the Qing Dynasty. The book is divided into two parts: the main and the supplementary. It includes six works: Records of Joy in the Inner Chamber, Records of Leisurely Pleasures, Records of Hardships, Records of Joyful Journeys, Records of Zhongshan, and Records of Nurturing Life. This book takes the life of the author and his wife as the main thread, making each part an organic whole and genuinely reflecting the various experiences of ordinary people's domestic life.