In six records of a life adrift, the writer focuses his attention on Chen Yun. She takes the simple things in life to be the ideal situation. She has a soft spot for painting and embroidering and takes them to be an important component of poetry (Fu, 2011). From the way She Fu treats her it’s clear that he feels that people in life should be able to share things like hobbies, and feelings unfortunately, the larger society does not seem to share similar ideas.

She believes good life is about enjoying the little pleasures of life. He enjoys things like cultivating flowers and composing poems (Fu, 2011). He fondly remembers his childhood and loves nature. He makes time to search for worldly possessions too. He displays great love for his wife and believes himself to be an upright and committed man. Unfortunately, he does not take good care of her. He does not believe in following what others believe in just for the sake of it.

Liu Dapeng, on the other hand, believed that good life was about getting good grades in school and landing a good government job. He believed in practicing Confucianism (Harrison, 2005). Unfortunately, he is so rigid that he practices it even when other people think it’s outdated. He is left as the only person who sticks to the old ways. He failed his exams and never achieved his dream of becoming a high official. He believed he was a scholar first and a merchant second. Just like She Fu, Liu was not doing well on the family front. He was not able to take care of his family financially.

She Fu and Liu Dapeng both seem to have the idea that for one to be successful in life, he must take academics seriously (Harrison, 2005). She loves composing poems with other scholars and has a lot of respect for customs and historical allusions. His life greatly depends on his scholarly circles. Liu Dapeng on the other hand, tried passing the passing the civil examination several times but failed. Despite this, he considers himself a scholar first. Both She Fu and Liu Dapeng are not able to take care of their families financially. They is despite the fact that they believe in the family institution. Their other believes get in the way of taking care of their families.

Work Cited

Henrietta, Harrison (2005). The Man Awakened From Dreams. California: Stanford University

Shen, Fu. (2011). Six Records of a Life Adrift. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.