Six Records of a Floating Life Author: Shen Fu Publisher: Tianjin People's Publishing House

This book cannot be simply described as interesting, exquisite, or sad. The reason why it has become a classic is that having this book in hand is like having a wonderful friend by your side.

This publication uses the Republic of China edition published by Kaiming Bookstore as the base text, and re-proofreads it with the edition published by Yan Lai Hong Cong Bao, the Republic of China edition published by Shuang Feng Society, and the English translation by Lin Yutang; and invites Zhang Jiawei to carefully translate and write a long translation note as a guide for readers. Both the original text and the translation are included in one copy.

It exclusively includes "Shen Fu's Life" (Chronology) and "Shen Fu's Thirty Years of Travels", as well as "Preface to the First Edition in the Third Year of Guangxu", "Inscription by Pan Lusheng" and "Postscript to the First Edition in the Third Year of Guangxu", so that readers can better understand the book and benefit from it.

Shen Fu, also known by his courtesy name Sanbai and pseudonym Meiyi, was born in a family of scholars near Canglang Pavilion in the south of Suzhou in the 28th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign (1763). He married his uncle's daughter Chen Yun at the age of 18. After marriage, the couple treated each other as equals and loved each other deeply. However, they had many setbacks in life and often failed to live up to their wishes. Fortunately, they were not worldly and were good at finding joy in hardship. They stayed together for 23 years until Yun died of illness. However, they were still as affectionate as before. Later, Shen Fu left home and traveled around, writing six volumes of "Six Records of a Floating Life". After the book was completed, it was not published, but it was widely copied and treasured by the people. During the Daoguang period, it was purchased by Yang Yinchuan, a scholar from the south of the Yangtze River, from a street book stall, and then by his brother-in-law Wang Tao at Shenbaoguan for publication. Because it used true words to express true feelings and never deliberately fabricated, it was highly praised by later literati and has been passed down to this day and has become a classic. Among them, "Zhongshan Calendar" and "Health Preservation Records" are two records, and the version purchased by Yang Yinchuan has been lost. During the Republic of China period, it was claimed that the complete version was found and published, including the two lost records, but in fact they were pieced together and fabricated by people at that time. Later, there were rumors that the real lost records had appeared, or some related or fragmentary ones, but to date, no reliable and complete one has been confirmed, so this edition only includes the four records recorded in the original version: "The Joys of the Boudoir", "The Fun of Leisure", "The Sadness of Hardships", and "The Joys of Wandering".

Yu Pingbo: "Six Records of a Floating Life" is like a piece of pure crystal. You can see the brightness but not the color that sets off the brightness; you can see the fineness but not the traces of fine craftsmanship. However, I am confident that this statement is not an exaggeration. Those who want to read this book will surely be able to distinguish."

Lin Yutang: "I believe that a simple, peaceful and contented life - a life like what Ruyun said, "a simple life of plain clothes and simple food, and a happy life" - is the most beautiful thing in the universe. Whenever I read this book again and again, I always think of this issue of happiness - reading Shen Fu's book always makes me feel that this mystery of happiness is far beyond the oppression of the world and the pain of the body."