Shěn Fù 沈復, courtesy name Sānbái 三白 (also written as pen name 沈三白), was born in the winter of 1763 (Qiánlóng guǐwèi 乾隆癸未, 22nd day of the 11th month) in Sūzhōu 蘇州, beside the Cānglàng Pavilion 滄浪亭. His father held a minor official position. Shěn Fù worked for most of his life as a government secretary (mùyǒu 幕友), accompanying officials to various postings. He married Chén Yún 陳芸 (1763–1803), a cousin and childhood companion of exceptional literary talent; her death forms the emotional center of his memoir. The last dateable event in his known writings falls around 1809; his death year is unknown.
He is the author of Fúshēng Liù Jì 浮生六記 (Six Records of a Floating Life), preserved in four of the original six chapters. The work is represented twice in the Kanripo corpus: KR4k0116 and KR4k0118 (two catalog entries for the same textual witness). CBDB id 65742 records his birth year as 1763 and notes the source as the Qīngdài rénwù shēngzú nián biǎo 《清代人物生卒年表》. The catalog entry 沈三白 is the pen-name form used in the Kanripo metadata; the personal name is 沈復.