Qing yu nian

Really love the plot of this drama! So much twist, so much scheming. You thought and guessed one thing, what really happened is the other thing. Mindblowing! Once you get to the end, you will finally understand simple things which you take for granted before, like the meaning of the opening song, the hair accessories which I think is pretty unique for a historical drama, the modern cut/editing/transition. I love the cinematography of this drama too. The composition is neat. The lighting is pretty dramatic but still natural. Also love the costume. I notice that they differentiate the pattern for the different countries. Applause for all the actors too, great actings both from the senior and the junior actors. Really brought to life the interesting characters. I hope they wouldn't change any actor for season 2.

Wonderful historical costume drama! What really captured my attention to this series was the comedic references throughout each episode: very well integrated into each characters' execution. Similarly, Zhang Ruoyun was brilliant as Fan Xian: his character's expressions and dialog were extremely entertaining and amusing-exceptional performance. Likewise, there were many high-quality, multiple-layered characters that contributed to the amazing production of this narrative: fantastic supporting cast. Fabulous CG worldbuilding, writing and story. Loved the journey! Cheers!

What can I say about Joy of Life (aka Qing Yu Nian)? After seeing the dramatic trailer, I fully expected this to be a dark historic saga. I just never imagined I would be laughing so much. One-sentence synopsis: It's a story about a 21st century college student trying to survive ancient China by outmaneuvering political machinations while navigating through cultural and moral quandaries with plenty of modern flare.

Although Joy of Life fits mostly in the drama category, there were still plenty of sitcom moments and an army of quirky characters, with our time traveling protagonist at the top of the list. Wait, did I say time travel? I stand corrected. There's a minor detail I learned when I decided to read the novel after watching a couple of episodes: The original time travel/transmigration storyline is not in this live adaptation because China's media authorities banned time travel theme in domestic movies and television. Just google it if you want to learn more about the restriction on time travel, it's quite interesting.

I thought the juxtaposition of contemporary background music and historic setting can be a bit jarring at times, but it became less noticeable once I began to fully immerse in the drama. It wasn't hard for me to get use to the anachronisms since Joy of Life was set in a completely fictional world. Plus it's just plain funny to watch other characters' reactions whenever our protagonist fires a bunch of modern slangs and concepts at them.

I'm not a big fan of Zhang Rouyun (the lead actor) and I'm still not feeling the chemistry between him and Li Qin (the female lead). Even so, I had to admit that he did a great job portraying the crafty opportunist with a heart of gold. Overall, the intriguing plot twists and its fascinating characters were the main reasons that kept me hooked to this odd story until the very end.

I would recommend this series to viewers with at least some knowledge of Chinese language and customs; the wordplay and cultural references in the show were truly funny, but they could easily get lost in translation. Therefore, I'd like to conclude this review by giving all subtitle teams a round of applause for taking on the challenge of translating shows like Joy of Life.

Awesome, entertaining show with a story that offers lots of surprises. Nice pacing with good balance of light & heavy-hearted segments, while engaging you to the end. A great cast who gave solid performance in both older and younger roles. You care about the characters and about what happens to them.

Beautiful costumes, beautiful hair & makeup (don't know how good they are until you've seen other lesser shows).

Well-executed martial art. I have watched gazillion martial art movies and TV series but there were fight scenes in Joy of Life that really impressed me.

I would have given it 9.5 stars if I could. Not 10 because the first 10/12 episode dragged at time. However, once you've passed that stage the story continues to get more intriguing and exciting.

Can't wait till Season 2 is up!

The star of the show is Fan Xian who is played excellently by Zhang Ruo Yun and my review is based on the first two series as there is no confirmed date for series three. It is set in the ancient empire of Qing and the story begins with Fan returning to the capital after years of exclusion after an assassination attempt on him. He has memories of the future and his mother who he never knew brought great knowledge to the kingdom. Once he is in the capital he soon rises through the ranks and his support is pursued by powerful factions within the court. The story goes along at a steady pace and has many twists and turns with a great supporting cast and good character development and I would have liked more inclusion of some of the interesting side characters. Well worth a watch but remember there are a lot of episodes and more to come.