Endless Joy

Endless Joy is a collection of essays by Yi Shu, published in mainland China by New World Press in January 2007 as part of the "Yi Shu New Classics" series. At 181 pages, it gathers mostly short pieces of under a thousand characters. Unlike her romance novels, this collection is not about romantic entanglements but about the small truths of daily life: money, marriage, work, friendship, clothing, face, time, and growing old. What the book stresses repeatedly is self-reliance and self-care—a woman's first half of life has been hard enough; in the second half she should cherish herself and act within her means. It also preserves much-quoted lines such as "You can choose the wrong person to kiss, but never the wrong person to lose your temper at" and "Life is short, energy is limited, and where you spend your time is visible." Yi Shu's language is blunt, crisp, and tinged with dry humor; she likes to nail a matter with one short sentence, without detours or deliberate gentleness. She turns the worldly wisdom gained after middle age into a free-and-easy attitude toward life: don't complain, don't cling, don't cast yourself as a victim. The book is small and suited to opening at any moment for one or two pieces; it is a key to the values behind Yi Shu's novels, and many readers treat it as a "handbook for professional women" on how to conduct themselves.