Six Records of a Floating Life

first publication date:  1801
genre:  autobiography
original title:  浮生六記

Six Records of a Floating Life (Chinese: 浮生六記, Fu sheng liu ji) is an autobiography by Shen Fu (沈復, 1763–1825), who lived in Changzhou (now Suzhou) during the Qing dynasty. The four extant records are "Wedded Bliss", "The Little Pleasures of Life", "Sorrow", and "The Joys of Travel". Two further "records" are lost (or perhaps were never completed): "A History of Life at Zhongshan" 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 Tao, who was in charge of the Shanghai newspaper Shen Bao. Wang Tao published the manuscript in letterpress in 1877, whereupon it became an instant bestseller. The "Fourth Record" was written in 1808, so the book is believed to be finished sometime after that date. Based on the index, scholars have been able to determine that the fifth record was intended to be called "A History of Life at Chungshan" and the sixth was intended to be called "The Way of Living". The fifth and sixth sections have never been found, despite various fraudulent claims. The phrase "floating life" (浮生 fúshēng) originates from the preface to a poem by the Tang-era poet Li Bai: "The floating life is but as a dream; how much longer can we enjoy our happiness?" Source: Wikipedia (en)

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