Fu Shen

Shen Fu was a Chinese writer of the Qing dynasty, born in 1763 and traditionally associated with Changzhou, in present-day Suzhou. He is best known for Six Records of a Floating Life, an autobiographical work remembered for its intimate picture of family life, friendship, travel, and personal loss.

What makes his writing stand out is how personal it feels. Rather than focusing on grand politics or official history, he wrote about ordinary experiences with unusual honesty and tenderness, especially in his portrait of life with his wife, Chen Yun.

Much about his life remains sketchy, but his surviving work has given him a lasting place in Chinese literature. Six Records of a Floating Life continues to be widely read in translation as a graceful, humane account of everyday life in late imperial China.