Shen Fu and Six Records of a Floating Life: Love, grief, and lying flat in Qing China
Barbarians at the GateSummary
Jeremiah Jenny and Alexander Boyd reflect on Boyd's recent trip to China, where they met for the first time in person. Boyd shares highlights from his travels, including visits to Shanghai, Beijing, Guizhou, and Chongqing, expressing his enjoyment of the experience and the vibrant food scene in Beijing.
The discussion shifts to Shen Fu's memoir, "Six Records of a Life Adrift," which explores themes of love, ambition, and societal expectations during the late Qing dynasty. Shen Fu, from a once-elite family, struggles with the realities of a population boom that limits opportunities in the bureaucracy. The hosts analyze how Shen Fu's narrative serves as a poignant reflection on the pursuit of beauty in everyday life amidst personal and societal challenges. They delve into the complexities of his relationship with his wife, Yun, highlighting her devotion and the dynamics of their marriage, which includes moments of cross-dressing and the implications of their social standing.
The conversation also touches on the memoir's translation history, noting the different interpretations by various translators over the years. Boyd emphasizes the emotional depth of Shen Fu's writing, particularly in the context of his grief after Yun's death, suggesting that the memoir resonates with readers for its honest portrayal of love and loss. The episode concludes with a nod to future discussions on Chinese literature and history.
Show Notes
What can a grief memoir about a beloved wife tell us about love, life, and society in 18th-century China?
Shen Fu’s Six Records of a Life Adrift (浮生六記 / fúshēng liù jì) offers a bottom-up look at Qing dynasty elites. Shen Fu experiences love, financial trouble, pain, beauty, sadness, and joy, never passing up a chance for a drink and making questionable career choices at a time in Chinese history when the life options for a slacker scholar were increasingly limited. His life with his devoted wife, Chen Yun, has made Six Records of a Life Adrift one of China’s great romances.
At its heart is Yun, whose resourcefulness makes you wonder what she sees in Shen Fu, especially when her eye seems to wander toward the beautiful young courtesan Hanyuan.
Alexander Boyd, Associate Editor of China Books Review, joins Jeremiah again to discuss a memoir by an author with a true gift for finding beauty in everyday life, if not always for paying the rent on time. We talk about why the imperial exams in Shen Fu’s time were becoming even more difficult to pass, what that meant for talented scholars like Shen Fu who fell by the wayside, and why overeducated and underemployed readers, from China’s Lying Flat Gen Z to students in PhD programs in Chinese history, might find Shen Fu’s story startlingly – if uncomfortably – familiar.
Reading and episode links Jeremiah’s China Books Review column “Shen Fu: Floating Life in a Fallen Realm” (September 29, 2026)
Lin Yutang translation Shen Fu, Six Chapters of a Floating Life
Leonard Pratt and Chiang Su-hui translation Shen Fu, Six Records of a Floating Life (Penguin Classics)
Graham Sanders translation Shen Fu, Six Records of a Life Adrift (Hackett, 2011)
John Minford’s new anthology Ch’ing, a Chinese Book of Love: From Early Times to the Modern Age (Reaktion Books, 2026) (The anthology Alexander mentions, which includes selections from Shen Fu.)
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