Joy of Life

We haven't watched this one. This section is based on published synopses, encyclopedia entries and Chinese and English coverage, and we'll replace it with a verdict once we have one.

Joy of Life is a political drama with a sense of humor. Fan Xian is a hero who solves problems by talking, joking and occasionally reciting classical poetry from his past life as if he had written it. The early episodes are light and often funny, with a lot of family comedy around the Fan household. As the season goes on, the story turns darker: assassinations, purges, spy exchanges, and the slow realization that the people protecting Fan Xian may also be using him.

Pacing. Reviews often describe the first stretch as slow but entertaining, and the middle third, when Fan Xian gets involved in the Inspection Bureau and the capital's factions, as where the story takes off. The last ten episodes cover a diplomatic mission to the rival kingdom of Northern Qi. Because the season ends mid-story, several English-language reviewers have warned viewers to plan on watching season 2.

What viewers praised. The ensemble cast, especially Chen Daoming as the emperor, Wu Gang as Chen Pingping and Tian Yu as Wang Qinian. The witty dialogue. Zhang Ruoyun's mix of comedy and menace. The mystery around Fan Xian's mother, which runs under every episode.

What some viewers disliked. Some readers of the novel said the drama makes Fan Xian softer and funnier than the book's more ruthless hero. Others found the romance between Fan Xian and Lin Wan'er underdeveloped. The cliffhanger ending frustrated many, and the four-year gap before season 2 made it worse.

Content notes. Expect sword fights, assassinations, poisoning, torture of prisoners and the death of a sympathetic character in the first third. There is little gore by Western standards.

Reception. The season was one of the biggest streaming hits of 2019 in China, with reported combined views above 13 billion. On Douban it sits around 8, though the exact figure varies by source and date. Tian Yu won Best Supporting Actor and Wang Juan won Best Adapted Screenplay at the 26th Shanghai TV Festival's Magnolia Awards. Its release also sparked a national argument about streaming platforms charging extra for early episodes, covered in the release notes below.

Fan Xian remembers a life in the modern world, and then he is born again as the illegitimate son of a count in a feudal kingdom called Qing. He grows up in the quiet port town of Danzhou, trained in poisons by a strange tutor and in swordplay by a blindfolded servant, Wuzhu, who seems to have known his mother. When someone tries to kill him as a teenager, he goes to the capital to find out why. There he finds an arranged marriage that comes with control of the Royal Treasury, two princes who want him on their side, a secret police service his mother helped create, and an emperor who watches everything. Joy of Life (庆余年) is a 46-episode drama starring Zhang Ruoyun, Li Qin and Chen Daoming, which premiered on Tencent Video and iQIYI in November 2019. It adapts the web novel Qing Yu Nian by Mao Ni. Outside China it streams on Viki.

This first season covers roughly the first two volumes of the novel and ends on a cliffhanger. A second season aired in 2024, and a third was announced in 2025.

Joy of Life premiered on November 26, 2019, on Tencent Video and iQIYI. Some Chinese sources also list a CCTV-8 broadcast, which we haven't confirmed for season 1. It was directed by Sun Hao, written by Wang Juan, and produced by New Classics Media with Tencent Penguin Pictures.

The release is remembered for a fight over money. In December 2019, both platforms began letting VIP members pay an extra 50 yuan to unlock six episodes ahead of schedule, a model called chaoqian dianbo (超前点播, paid early viewing). It led to a public backlash and complaints in China's state media. A few days later the remaining episodes leaked online, and the platforms said they would pursue the leak. Both streamers later dropped the model.

TVB broadcast a Cantonese-dubbed version in Hong Kong in 2020, and the drama aired on other channels in Southeast Asia. Outside China, Viki carries all 46 episodes, and from the US on October 25, 2026, all of them were free with ads. We've seen it reported on other services in some countries, which we haven't confirmed.

Season 2 (36 episodes) aired from May 16 to May 31, 2024, on CCTV-8 and Tencent Video, with most of the main cast returning. It set Tencent viewership records and was widely reported as the most-watched mainland Chinese drama on Disney+. Season 3 was officially announced in June 2025 with a concept poster, with Zhang Ruoyun, Chen Daoming, Li Qin, Wu Gang and Tian Yu returning. Later reports in 2026 suggested that seasons 3 and 4 might be filmed together, but no release date has been confirmed.

The season 1 ending theme, "Remaining Years" (余年), is sung by Xiao Zhan, and the opening theme is by singer-songwriter Li Jian.