Customer Reviews

Six Records of a Floating Life (Penguin Classics)

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"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.

There are so many contradictions within this quirky memoir that it could only possibly be true.

This is a memoir of life right around the start of the 19th century. It recounts the adult life of Shen Fu, a man who appears to have been ordinary in the extreme. Although educated, he did not pass the literary tests of the civil service. At best, his career could have been a secretary under one of the successful examinees, but his times weren't always the best. His positions never lasted, and his business attempts failed. Often, he sold his possessions and his wife's down to the clothes on their backs (or less). He fell out with his family, in a time when filial duty was enforced by law, and became outcast in almost every sense.

But his life never wholly failed, either. Perhaps it was the glow of nostalgia, but his twenty-three years of marriage were always a joy to him, even when his wife's health failed, and even when she may have been the source of some of his problems. They had their times of poverty, but never to the point of starvation. He was honorable enough to quit a corrupt position when it offended his honor too deeply. He was devoted enough to heal the familial rifts. His joys and Yun's were simple - travel, each other, the beauty of the full moon, and maybe a little too much wine shared with happy company. Shen Fu and his devoted Yun never demanded much from their lives, and usually got enough to enjoy.

The text wanders. The first three chapters chart the ups and downs of the marriage to his beloved wife. She died early, from some frightening disease. Still, she and he accepted it stoically, or mostly did. The fourth chapter collects a few decades of moments together, the sights and sounds of travel. With his wife and after her, Shun Fu visited temples, sacred caves, and pleasure districts, reported in some drifting collage of personal history. Despite the "six" promised in the title, we have only four. It's probably better that way, according to the appendices.

I really think I would have liked Shun Fu. He was honest enough, loving enough, and devoted enough to his children. Even when his own situation deteriorated badly, he fostered his son as best he could and sheltered his daughter with people who could marry her well. He never wholly succeeded or failed, but muddled through the chances that appeared to him. He was no grand hero, nor villain, nor idle dreamer, nor driven workaholic. He was just a guy, living some guy's life pretty well. Maybe he dressed up his memories just a bit, but don't we all?

//wiredweird

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.

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.

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.

Shen Fu brings late 18th and early 19th century China to life. Reflections on a time of empire, when the barbarian west was developing a presence in southern China and pirates and brigands still terrorised the local population. Shen Fu is a self-described unsuccessful scholar, but still made a life in government and business, despite frequent extended bouts of unemployment. And what a life he lived and enjoyed. A failed scholar, but a wonderful poet: On love - "I went into our room and Yun rose to greet me. She held my hands without saying a word. Our souls became smoke and mist. I thought I heard something, but it was as if my body had ceased to exist"; On life - "There is dung in every house. The only question is whether one eats it" and "Burning incense in a quiet room is one of the refined pleasures of leisure"; The sublime - "As soon as he opened the temple gate we saw the face of the Buddha, its golden reflections mingling with the green shade. The steps of the hall and the stone foundations were covered with moss as delicate as embroidery" and "Their temple on Pu Mountain was covered by, indeed was hidden in, this Sea of Fragrant Snow. The plum flowers were in full bloom at the time and even our coughing and spitting were perfumed by them". Shen Fu lived a wonderful life to the full - finding true joy in the company of family and friends. The approach taken by Shen Fu in covering his life from different perspectives (the 'six records' - of which two are unfortunately lost) is a real pleasure to read, with the texture deepening through each new perspective.

Highly recommended for anyone planning to visit Suzhou or Hangzhou - this book resounds with the delights of the gardens, the scenery and a sense of history for this region of China. The Kindle version does not include the beautiful cover of the paperback, but it does include the fine drawings of scenery and maps which illustrate the story.

I bought this book for a class I thought I would take and wound up dropping. Nevertheless what started as a casual flip through this book, turned into me reading the whole thing. It's written in a wonderfully readable style, and all of Shen Fu's experiences have perfect parallels with our lives today. What really hooked me, and the other reviewers it seems, is the candor and intimacy with which he depicts his love for his wife. It's just a simple romance, totally ordinary, which is perhaps why it is so shocking. His life was nothing special for sure, but that's exactly why it is so easy to get into this book and empathize with all the various ups and downs in his life.

It's a really short book, so if you have a day, read it!

A wonderful, romantic, thoughtful and sometimes tragic account of a life from 200 years ago in an alien land. When you read it, the author seems to be at your shoulder and could be your contemporary. Very intimate and revealing, and a profound experience to read.

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