Tamen De Gushi (Their Story) by Tan Jiu: Read Online Free + Complete Guide

Tamen De Gushi (Their Story / 她们的故事), also known as SQ: Begin W/Your Name, is the most beloved GL manhua ever made. Created by Chinese artist Tan Jiu (坛九), this girls love manhua follows Sun Jing and Qiu Tong through school life, first love, and the everyday moments that make a relationship real. With translations in dozens of languages, it's the entry point into Chinese GL manga for millions of readers worldwide.

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Tamen de Gushi (Their Story)

239 chapters · 1,841 pages

Read Their Story Now

What is Tamen De Gushi?

Tamen De Gushi (她们的故事, literally 'Their Story') is a GL manhua by Tan Jiu (坛九), serialized online from 2014. Originally published on Chinese social media platforms Weibo and Kuaikan Manhua, it quickly became one of the most popular GL comics internationally thanks to fan translations.

The series stands out for its visual storytelling approach, Tan Jiu relies on expressive artwork and physical comedy rather than dialogue to convey emotions. Many chapters have fewer than ten words of text. This makes it uniquely accessible across language barriers, which is why it became a global phenomenon even before official translations existed.

Story Overview

Sun Jing is a tall, athletic girl who spots Qiu Tong on the street and is immediately smitten. After an accidental collision brings them together, Sun Jing discovers that Qiu Tong attends a nearby school. What follows is Sun Jing's persistent, earnest, and often hilariously physical pursuit of the object of her affection.

Qiu Tong, initially confused by Sun Jing's intensity, gradually comes to understand and reciprocate her feelings. The series follows their relationship from first meeting through confession, dating, and navigating school life as a couple, including dealing with friends, family expectations, and the occasional rival.

Unlike many GL series that end at confession, Tamen De Gushi spends significant time on the couple's actual relationship. The later chapters explore how Sun Jing and Qiu Tong maintain their connection through everyday moments, cooking together, studying, meeting each other's friends, and simply existing in each other's lives.

Main Characters

• Sun Jing (孙径): The tall, athletic, and impulsive protagonist. Sun Jing falls for Qiu Tong at first sight and pursues her with a combination of boldness and vulnerability. She's physically affectionate, fiercely protective, and wears her heart on her sleeve. Her expressive reactions, from lovesick daze to jealous pout, are the comic engine of the series.
• Qiu Tong (秋瞳): The quiet, pretty girl who becomes Sun Jing's love interest and eventually her girlfriend. Qiu Tong is calmer and more reserved than Sun Jing, but she's not passive, her growing awareness of her own feelings drives the emotional arc. She's also capable of surprising boldness when it matters.
• Qi Fang: Sun Jing's best friend and frequent wingman. A loyal, good-natured friend who provides comic relief and emotional support. His subplot with his own crush adds a parallel romantic thread.
• The Blond Guy (Zhang): A boy from Qiu Tong's school who develops a crush on her, creating a brief love triangle. His presence forces both Sun Jing and Qiu Tong to confront their feelings more directly.

Art Style & Format

Tan Jiu's art style is the defining feature of Tamen De Gushi. The character designs are clean and expressive, with exaggerated reactions that convey emotion without words. Sun Jing's blushing face, Qiu Tong's confused expressions, and the physical comedy of their interactions are all communicated through artwork rather than speech bubbles.

The format evolved over the series' run. Early chapters are short (3-5 pages) with simple black-and-white art. As the series progressed, chapters grew longer and more detailed, with some later installments featuring full-color pages. The art quality improves dramatically, comparing chapter 1 to chapter 200 shows an artist who grew alongside her characters.

The series is structured as a manhua (Chinese comic) rather than a manga (Japanese) or manhwa (Korean). It reads left-to-right like Western comics and manhwa, not right-to-left like Japanese manga.

Why It's Special

• Show don't tell: Tamen De Gushi is a masterclass in visual storytelling. Tan Jiu conveys entire emotional arcs through body language, facial expressions, and physical proximity. The minimal dialogue means the art does all the heavy lifting, and it delivers.
• Healthy relationship: Unlike many GL stories that rely on drama, misunderstandings, or toxic dynamics, Sun Jing and Qiu Tong's relationship is fundamentally healthy. They communicate, support each other, and genuinely enjoy being together. It's refreshing in a genre that often conflates drama with romance.
• Humor: The series is genuinely funny. Sun Jing's over-the-top reactions, the physical comedy of her pursuit, and the supporting cast's commentary provide consistent laughs. It balances sweetness with comedy in a way few GL series manage.
• Cultural significance: As one of the few Chinese GL works to achieve international recognition, Tamen De Gushi proved that GL content could transcend the Japanese market. Its censorship by Chinese authorities also made it a symbol of LGBTQ+ expression in a restrictive media environment.
• Accessibility: The visual-first approach means you don't need fluent language skills to enjoy it. This is why it's often the first GL recommendation for new readers, the barrier to entry is essentially zero.

Read Tamen De Gushi Online

We have the complete Tamen De Gushi, all 239 chapters by Tan Jiu, available in our continuous vertical reader. Read from the very first meeting between Sun Jing and Qiu Tong through the full arc of their relationship. For a full guide to every platform where you can read yuri manga and GL manhua online for free, see our dedicated reading guide.

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Tamen de Gushi (Their Story)

239 chapters · 1,841 pages

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Censorship & Controversy

In 2018, Chinese internet regulations significantly restricted depictions of same-sex relationships in online content. Tan Jiu, who had been serializing Tamen De Gushi on Kuaikan Manhua, was pressured to tone down or remove romantic content between the female leads.

The impact was visible in the series. Chapters after the restriction became less overtly romantic, with some readers noting that the characters' relationship was downplayed compared to earlier chapters. Updates became irregular, and the series never received a formal conclusion.

Despite this, the international fan community preserved and continued translating the earlier, uncensored chapters. Tamen De Gushi became something of a symbol for LGBTQ+ expression in Chinese media, a story that connected with millions of readers before regulatory pressure limited its voice.

Tamen De Gushi Anime Adaptation

As of 2026, there is no anime adaptation of Tamen De Gushi. This is one of the most searched questions about the series, and the answer is straightforward: the Chinese censorship that affected the manhua makes an official anime unlikely in the near term. Chinese animation studios face the same content restrictions that forced Tan Jiu to tone down the romance. Readers looking for the broader context of WLW stories across manga, manhwa, and manhua will find our WLW manga guide useful for navigating the full landscape.

The good news is that the manhua itself is the definitive way to experience the story. Tan Jiu's expressive art style is so central to what makes Tamen De Gushi work that an anime adaptation would struggle to capture the same charm. The wordless panels, the exaggerated reactions, the physical comedy... these are built for the manhua format. Read the original and you're not missing anything.

Similar GL Manhua and Manga

If you enjoyed Tamen De Gushi, these titles share its warmth, humor, or cultural significance. Tamen is often called the best Chinese GL manhua, but these come close:

• My Food Looks Very Cute by Xi Ling LuoBo. A wholesome supernatural GL manhua about a vampire and a werewolf girl. Same warm, funny energy as Tamen but with a fantasy twist. Full color, completed at 234 chapters. Read on Yurivan. Read on Yurivan →
• What Does the Fox Say? by Team Gaji. A mature GL manhwa with deeper emotional complexity. Where Tamen De Gushi is sweet and funny, WDTFS is intense and dramatic. Read all 136 chapters on Yurivan. Read on Yurivan →
• Bloom Into You by Nio Nakatani. The definitive coming-of-age yuri manga. Similar school setting but with deeper psychological exploration of what it means to fall in love. Read all 45 chapters on Yurivan. Read on Yurivan →
• Citrus by Saburouta. More dramatic and intense than Tamen De Gushi, but equally passionate. A yuri classic with a divisive reputation and devoted fanbase. Read all 84 chapters on Yurivan. Read on Yurivan →
• Netsuzou Trap by Kodama Naoko. A shorter, darker yuri series that contrasts with Tamen De Gushi's warmth. For readers who want to see the genre's range. Read all 29 chapters on Yurivan. Read on Yurivan →

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Tamen De Gushi (Their Story) answered below.