Six Records of a Floating Life (1809) is an extraordinary Blend of auto-biography, love story and social document written by a man who waseducated as a scholar but earned his living as a civil servant and artdealer. In this intimate memoir, Shen Fu recounts the domestic andromantic joys of his marriage to Yun, the beautiful and artistic girl he fellin love with as a child. He also describes other incidents of his life, includ-ing how his beloved wife obtained a courtesan for him and reflects onhis travels through China. Shen Fu's exquisite memoir shows six paral-lel 'layers' of one man's life, loves and career, with revealing glimpsesinto Chinese society of the Ch'ing Dynasty.

This lyrical translation conveys all the descriptive immediacy of the ori-ginal. The introduction describes the ways in which the book offers aunique insight into family life, government and the powerful role of thecourtesan in nineteenth-century China. This edition also includes achronology, maps and notes.

Introduction

Chronology

Weights and Measures

Six Records of a Floating Life

  PART Ⅰ: The Joys of the Wedding Chamber

  PART Ⅱ: The Pleasures of Leisure

  tART Ⅲ: The Sorrows of Misfortune

  PART Ⅳ: The Delights of Roaming Afar

Appendices

  1 A History of Life at Chungshan

  2 The Way of Living

Notes

Maps