Shen Fu

Shen Fu's Six records of a Floating Life is too short! Granted two chapters have gone missing since it was written in 1806 I wish there was more. I loved it so much. Well all except the bit about flower arranging and landscaping though I could understand why it was in there. It was a very touching autobiography of the life of a man livining in late 18th Century China who was usually broke but sometimes worked for the government, sometimes as an art dealer, but mostly just sat drinking with his wife and his friends discussing the finer things in life.

I loved reading about his drinking escapades, he did seem to be a bit of a drunk. Frequently talking about pawning items to buy wine. How being able to buy wine for entertaining your friends was the only reason you needed money. I liked the comment his wife made one time when he returned and she said, "are you very drunk again?"

She was by far the best part of the book. I do believe the woman had a little bit of a bisexual side. To start with there was the reference to her two best friends who used to sleep over and kick her husband out of her bed. Then she got in trouble with her husbands family for being a sworn sister of a sing-song girl. She was trying to get the girl to be a concubine for her husband but admitted she was really doing it because she was in love with the girl herself. The girl ended up being married to someone who had a great deal of money and his wife died of a broken heart. She also wrote poetry and loved old books. Fu talked about how she would collect old books and take them apart and have them rebound and how she did the same for calligraphy. Oh what a lovely hobby! (Particularly as the books were old in the late 18th century in China).
And then there was the time Fu convinced her to dress up like a man so she could sneak into the temple for the festival. She had to practice walking as a man, and managed to pull it off until she went over to chat to a group of women and accidentally touched one and got in trouble till she revealed her true identity. Fu wished she'd been born a man so they could go traveling together, but alas she never lived that long. They decided that in their next life she would get to be born the man and he the woman. It was all terribly romantic and tragic.

Fu also wrote lovely descriptions of his visits around China. My favorite was when he went to Canton and visited the brothels there. He complained that none of the women understood him and they all looked strange. Eventually he found a boat that catered to Northern tastes and upon finding a woman he liked his first thought was, "oh I wish my wife were here". He stayed with the prostitute for 4 months, he was very proud how little it cost him, and how well he treated her. But at the end he left he said the madam was too pushy, but I think the real reason was he just didn't have the money to pay for her. (He was perpetually broke). It was quite touching how he described the hard lives of the boat women. However this didn't stop him from abandoning his favorite, or doing anything to help her once he found out she had attempted suicide several times since he left.

It was a lovely book. Romantic, decedent and holding a true appreciation for nature and beauty...and wine.