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This English edition is Lin Yutang's favourite translation and fully demonstrates his learning and literary talent. The original in Chinese, written by Shen Fu (1763-?), a lover of literature of the Qing dynasty, gives a truthful account of his own love, marriage and family in a terse, vivid and moving style. Unfortunately only four of the Six Chapters have survived.
Chen Yun, the heroine who Lin Yutang called 'one of the loveliest women in Chinese literature,' is the image of a pure and sincere but romantic Chinese housewife. She is intelligent and fond of learning, enjoying the pleasures of life and the beauty of nature and art. She is industrious and thrifty in running her family, and respectful and polite to others, but so simple and artless that she takes no precautions against possible trouble. As a result, she experiences all kinds of frustration, suffers the rigours of life and dies young.

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