Six Chapters of a Floating Life is an autobiographical essay by Shen Fu, a Suzhou scholar, during the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty. It is divided into six parts: boudoir, leisure, sadness, travel notes, Zhongshan calendar and health care. Shamefully, as a graduate of Chinese Department, although I know the title of Six Chapters of a Floating Life, I have never read it, because it is not the most classic work of China literature after all. So I was surprised when it suddenly became popular this year. Besides, for decades, I have never heard that translating classical Chinese works into vernacular Chinese can become a bestseller.

First, the sincerity of Six Chapters of a Floating Life is extremely rare and touching in China's classical literature. Most of China's classical literary works we have read are fictional literary works with tight structure, vivid language and profound implications, such as Dream of Red Mansions, The Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, etc. There are few on-site prose works, and we have never seen Six Chapters of a Floating Life with such a pure, frank, unique, unconventional and creative style. Chen Yinque, a master of Chinese studies, once said: "China literature is afraid to talk about the relationship between men and women, especially the formal relationship between men and women, such as the relationship between lovers, because of its scruples about etiquette." The feeling of building a boudoir and the triviality of family daily necessities are generally not listed in chapters, but summarized in general. Since then, Shen's Six Chapters of a Floating Life and Boudoir Music have been created as exceptions. "This extraordinary creation just caters to the natural writing style of non-fiction literature today.