Writers › Writer / Poet
Shen Fu
Qing-dynasty Suzhou writer whose autobiographical Six Records of a Floating Life movingly recounts his marriage and travels.
In a study at night, a desk holds a brush pot, a porcelain vase with a plum branch, a lit red lantern, a folded fan and an unrolled blank scroll, with no one seated there, while through a round window the moon rises over a lake with a sailboat.
Also known as Zi Sanbai · Hao Meiyi
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Shen Fu, courtesy name Sanbai, was born in Changzhou (Suzhou) in 1763; the year of his death is unknown. He never held office, making his living as a private secretary, merchant and painter, and travelled widely through Jiangnan and Lingnan. His autobiographical Six Records of a Floating Life, of which four records survive, recalls his life with his wife Chen Yun with fresh and candid prose.
Life and times
- 1763 CEBorn
Qing - UnknownDied
Works
Literature · Prose9- Six Records of a Floating LifeQingShen Fu's Qing memoir of his marriage to Yun, its pleasures, hardships and travels
- Six Records of a Floating Life: Joys of the Bridal ChamberQing
- Six Records of a Floating Life: Pleasures of LeisureQing
- Six Records of a Floating Life: Sorrows of MisfortuneQing
- Six Records of a Floating Life: Delights of RoamingQing
+4 more
- Six Records of a Floating Life: Record of a Sojourn in Chūzan (Ryukyu)Qing
- Six Records of a Floating Life: The Way of Nurturing LifeQing
- Six Records of a Floating Life: Childhood Delights ("I remember when I was a small child")Qing
- Six Records of a Floating Life: Joys of the Bridal Chamber: Meeting YunQing
- Literature · Sayings2
- Seeing the Tip of an Autumn HairQingIdiom from Mencius: sharp-eyed enough to see the finest detail
- A Huge Hulking ThingQingIdiom from Liu Zongyuan's The Donkey of Guizhou: a huge hulk, hollow within
Family tree
- Direct kin
Shen FuWife, Elder maternal cousin
