Six Records of a Floating Life

Six Records of a Floating Life (Chinese: 浮生六記; pinyin: Fú Shēng Liù Jì) is an autobiography by Shen Fu (沈復, 1763–1825) who lived in Changzhou (now known as Suzhou) during the Qing dynasty. The four known "records" are "Wedded Bliss", "The Little Pleasures of Life", "Sorrow" and "The Joys of Travel". Two further chapters are missing (or perhaps were not completed): "A History of Life at Chungsha" and "The Way of Living".

Yang Yin, the brother-in-law of the prominent writer Wang Tao, found the incomplete manuscript of the work at a stall selling second-hand books. He gave the four parts to Wang, who was in charge of the Shanghai newspaper Shen Bao. Wang published the manuscript in letterpress in 1877 and it became an instant bestseller. The "Fourth Record" was written in 1808, so the book was believed to be finished after that. Based on the index, we can tell that the fifth record was to be called "A History of Life at Chungshan" and the sixth was to be called "The Way of Living". Later, it was claimed that these fifth and sixth parts had been found at another bookstall, but the manuscripts were declared fraudulent by scholars.

The phrase "floating life" comes from the preface to a poem by the Tang poet Li Bai: "... The floating life is but as a dream; how much longer can we enjoy our happiness?"

Style[]

The book is written in what translator Graham Sanders calls "the literary language of poetry, essays and official histories rather than in the more verbose vernacular language used for the popular lengthy novels and dramas of the Ming and Qing dynasties". According to Sanders, this choice allowed Shen Fu to "slip readily into a poetic lyrical mode," though he is also able to address topics as diverse as "gardening, finance, social roles of women, tourism, literary criticism, prostitution, class relations, and family dynamics."^[1]

Outline[]

The four chapters are:

1. "Wedded Bliss", in which the author mainly puts the focus on his wife Chen Yun. Chen Yun is not beautiful, but she pursues beauty. She takes painting and embroidering as necessary to composing poetry, and regards the simple life as ideal. Shen Fu treats her as a close friend who can share in his hobbies and his feelings, which was considered an unorthodox approach to marriage in his society.
2. "The Little Pleasures of Life", which gives a vivid description of the leisure activities of Shen Fu: the joys of his childhood, his adult life cultivating flowers, and his experiences of composing poems with other scholars. He tended to be close to nature in childhood, but in adulthood he has had very little time to focus on nature, and is often chained to worldly possessions. Many of the episodes are involved with discussions of aesthetic experiences.
3. "Sorrow", in which Shen Fu points out that most of his frustrations are due to his uprightness and his commitment to words. Though this chapter opens with the author's own sorrow, its content deals with the bumpy life of Chen Yun, which also grows out of her character, and with the author’s endless love for his wife and his resentment over her unfair fate.
4. "The Joys of Travel" portrays beautiful scenic spots that the author has visited, and records anecdotes, local customs and historical allusions. Shen Fu expounds his belief that it is the gaining of experience that counts, rather than following what others have said.^[2]

Plays[]

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Six Records of a Floating Life has also been adapted as an experimental play by East Meets West Mime, mixing elements of mime, dance, pop and theater. Ballerina Lindzay Chan played the character of Chen Yun, Shen Fu’s wife, and Philip Fok played Shen Fu.

Versions in different languages[]

English

• Six Chapters of a Floating Life. Translated by Lin Yutang. (Shanghai, 1936, rpr.in Yutang Lin. The Wisdom of China and India. (New York: Random House, 1942) and other places.
• Chapters from a Floating Life: The Autobiography of a Chinese Artist. Translated by Shirley M. Black, Oxford University Press, 1960.
• Six Records of a Floating Life. Translated by Leonard Pratt and Su-Hui Chiang. New York: Viking Press, 1983. ISBN 0140444297. Also reissued by Penguin Classics.
• Six Records of a Life Adrift. Translated by Graham Sanders. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2011. ISBN 1603841989.

German

• Shen Fu: Sechs Aufzeichnungen über ein unstetes Leben. Müller & Kiepenheuer, 1989 ISBN 3-7833-8046-4
• Shen Fu: Sechs Aufzeichnungen über ein unstetes Leben. Translated by Rainer Schwarz, Frankfurt am Main, Wien: Büchergilde Gutenberg, 1990 ISBN 3-7632-3666-X

French

• Shen Fu: Six secrets au fil inconstant des jours; Bruxelles, Éditions F. Larcier, Traduit du chinois par Pierre Ryckmans. 1966

Danish

• Kapitler af et flygtigt liv. Shen Fu. Omstag， 1986

Italian

• Sei racconti di vita irreale, 1955

Korean

• 부생 육기 :심 복 자서전, 1979

Spanish

• Relatos de una vida sin rumbo, 1985
• Seis estampas de una vida a la deriva, 2012 ISBN 978-84-15577-48-5

Dutch

• Verslagen van een vlietend leven : biografie van een liefde, 1989

Hebrew

• החיים הסחופים

Swedish

• Pilblad i strömmen. En kinesisk konstnärs självbiografi，Shen Fu, 1961。

Japanese

• 《浮生六記：う���世のさが》沈復作，佐藤春夫·松枝茂夫譯，東京：岩波書店，1938年9月

Malaysian

• Hidup Bagaikan Mimpi. (Fou Sheng Liu Chi). Riwayat Hidup Sa-orang Pelukis Dan Sasterawan Tionghoa. SHEN FU； DRS LI CHUAN SIU.

Czech

• Šest historií prchavého života, 1944

Russian

• Голыгина К.И. Шесть записок о быстротечности жизни. Пер. с кит., предисл. и коммент. К.И. Голыгиной. М., Главная редакция восточной литературы издательства "Наука", 1979. (Golygina K.I., Moscow, 1979)

Vietnamese

• Phù Sinh Lục Ký Thẩm Phục; Translated by . Hà Nội, Tao Đàn & Publishing House of Writers' Association 2018. ISBN 978-604-972-416-9.

References[]

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