Tsui-ku told me of their life of constantly welcoming new guests and seeing off old ones. When unhappy they still had to laugh loudly, and when they could not stand the taste of wine they still had to drink a great deal; when sick they still had to entertain guests, and when their throats hurtContinue reading “RKS Chinese Literature: Hardships of the Sing Song Girls (Shen Fu)”
Tag Archives: Six Records of a Floating Life
RKS Chinese Literature: Smoking Opium, Hugging and Joking with the Sing-Song Girls (Shen Fu)
We had the wine boat anchor in the middle of the river and happily drank away until several strokes of the night watch had sounded. By then I had begun to fear I could not control myself and so had firmly resolved to return to our rooms, but my friends told me the city gatesContinue reading “RKS Chinese Literature: Smoking Opium, Hugging and Joking with the Sing-Song Girls (Shen Fu)”
RKS Chinese Literature: Where Monks Should Not Live (Shen Fu)
To the friends who were with me that day, I said: ‘Men who want to be monks must live in this kind of secluded place, seeing and hearing nothing for their entire lives, so that they can meditate in tranquillity. At a place like Tiger Hill in my home country, all day long there isContinue reading “RKS Chinese Literature: Where Monks Should Not Live (Shen Fu)”
RKS Chinese Literature: The Wheel and the Hoof Have Flowed One Another in Such Quick Succession (Shen Fu)
I have travelled about working in government offices for thirty years now, and the only places in the world I have never been too are Szechuan, Kueichou and Yunnan. The pity is that the wheel and the hoof have followed one another in such quick succession. Everywhere I have gone I have been accompanying others,Continue reading “RKS Chinese Literature: The Wheel and the Hoof Have Flowed One Another in Such Quick Succession (Shen Fu)”
