Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Shên Fu
SHÊN Fu 沈復 (T. 三白, H. 梅逸), Dec. 26, 1763–?, writer and painter, was a native of Yuanho (Soochow), Kiangsu. His father was by profession a secretary to magistrates, his duties relating primarily to judicial and financial matters. In 1781 Shên Fu became, at his father's command, an apprentice in the same profession, and six years later obtained a post as secretary to the magistrate of Chi-hsi, Anhwei. A year later, owing to disagreements with his colleagues, he relinquished the post to join a relative in a brewing business which depended on the retail market in the island of Formosa. After the rebellion on that island in the years 1787–88 (see under Ch'ai Ta-chi), the market was lost and the business failed. Thereafter Shên worked, off and on, as secretary, teacher, or merchant. In the years 1792–93 he went to Canton to sell native products of Soochow, but up to 1805 he never remained long at one post. For a time he conducted a studio in Soochow for the sale of his paintings, but could not in this way make even half a living. In the meantime he and his beloved wife, Ch'ên Yün 陳芸 T. 淑珍 (1763–1803), incurred the dislike of his parents, and were compelled early in 1801 to leave the family shelter. In 1803, while they were living miserably in Yangchow, his wife died after twenty-three years of married life. After his father's death in 1804 Shên was deprived of his inheritance through the intrigue of a younger brother. Finally he had to live in Soochow on the bounty of friends.
In 1805 Shên Fu obtained a position as secretary to Shih Yün-yü [q. v.], then prefect of Chungking, Szechwan. He and Shih were fellow-townsmen and acquaintances of long standing. Shên remained with his friend for more than a year and during that time accompanied him to Tungkwan, Shensi, and to Tsinan, Shantung. In 1806 he obtained a position as secretary to the magistrate of Lai-yang, Shantung, but in the following year accompanied Shih to Peking. In 1807 an embassy led by Ch'i K'un 齊鯤 (T. 澄瀟, H. 北瀛, chin-shih of 1801) was dispatched to the Loochoo Islands to give imperial recognition to a new ruler of those islands. Shên joined this embassy as secretary, and probably returned to China in 1809. Such missions usually occupied two years, owing chiefly to long periods of waiting in Fukien for favorable winds. We are told that after his return to China his fame as a painter increased.
Nothing further is known of the later life of Shên Fu. Some details of his career up to 1807 are recorded by himself in his celebrated work, 浮生六記 Fu-shêng liu-chi, "Memoirs of a Floating Life, in Six Parts". The first four of these six parts were first printed in 1877 and were often reprinted. The first part is an account of his married life; the second deals with the art of gardening, flower arrangement and other aesthetic matters in which he was interested in the heyday of his career; the third recounts the tribulations of the family up to the time of the death of his wife; and the fourth tells of his travels to Canton, Tungkwan, and other places. The last two parts, which unfortunately were lost, dealt with his voyage to Loochoo and the remaining years of his career. The Fu-shêng liu-chi is a literary masterpiece, beautifully written, and permeated with deep emotion. An English translation, made by Lin Yutang (see under Ch'ien Ch'ien-i), appears in the Tien Hsia Monthly, vol. I, Aug.–Nov. 1935, under the title "Six Chapters of a Floating Life".
It is known that Shên produced a painting dealing with his voyage to Loochoo, for which Shih Yün-yü wrote a colophon. Shih also wrote two poems on the portrait of Ch'en Yün, lamenting her untimely death.
[In 1935 there appeared an edition of the Fu-shêng liu-chi which included the fifth and sixth parts. These parts are obviously spurious, the fifth being for the most part copied from the Shih Liu-ch'iu chi by Li Ting-yüan (see under Li T'iao-yüan), the sixth being from various works by well-known authors.]
[Fu-shêng liu-chi in 說庫 Shuo-k'u, vol. 41; Shih Yün-yü, Tu-hsüeh lu shih-wên kao 微波詞 p. 5ab, 晚香樓詩 3/5a; 吳縣志 Wu-hsien chih (1933) 75下/19b; Liu Fan 劉樊, 浮生六記佚稿辨僞 Fu-shêng liu-chi i-kao pien-wei in 國聞週報 vol. XIV, no. 6 (Feb. 1, 1937).]