Chinese 漫画 (màn huà) are Mandarin-language comic books that are heavily popular in Chinese-speaking countries like Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Mostly written in Simplified Chinese, manhua from China is read from left to right (like American comic books) while manhua from Taiwan or Hong Kong is typically read from right to left (like Japanese manga).
Unfortunately, most of us can’t find manhua on the shelves of our local bookstores in Western countries.
Let me show you four resources you can use to read Chinese manhua online, along with my personal recommendations.
YesAsia is a super popular site for everything Japanese, Korean and Chinese. We’re talking movies, TV shows, video games, collectibles, toys, foreign goods and more.
One awesome part of YesAsia is their manhua section (called “Comics” under the Chinese dropdown menu).
You can purchase these physical manhua comics through the site. They’ll then be shipped to you directly from China and Taiwan. There are a ton of manga and Western comics translated into Chinese available for purchase, as well.
Once again, most of the manhua at YesAsia are entirely in hanzi. If you enjoy variety, this is the site to check out—dozens of genres exist.
We suggest:
“一些爱的故事” (yī xiē ài de gù shì) — “A Love Story.” A tongue-in-cheek comedic manhua about the friendship between a mischievous child and a self-absorbed man.
“皮蛋小子” (pí dàn xiǎo zi) — “Pidan Kid.” A person in love with their friend tries to grapple with boundaries in this romance manhua.
Book Walker is a publishing company that provides webcomics, scans and physical copies of their own manhua. Most of the content on their site costs money, but it’s certainly worth it.
If you’re interested, Book Walker also features regular literature in addition to manhua.
Plus, you can rent a bunch of their manhua for a lower price instead of purchasing them to keep.
We suggest:
“魔法咪路咪路” (mó fǎ mī lù mī lù) — “Magic Milu Milu.” A cute love comedy designed for children. The hanzi is simple, so beginners, look at this one!
“同居不安定” (tóng jū bù ān dìng) — “Unstable Cohabitation.” A Chinese translation of a Japanese office romance comedy.
There’s a ton of manhua available for purchase on Amazon, as well as a lot of Chinese-language versions of manga.
We know almost every resource we’ve covered is Hanzi-only, which kind of sucks for beginner learners out there! But luckily, with a little bit of searching, there’s actually quite a bit of pinyin manhua available on Amazon.
We suggest:
“No-brain and Unhappiness.” Two unique characters try to deal with their poor tempers and cluelessness.
“Fantastic Journey of San Mao.” A beautiful, vintage manhua about one of the world’s longest-running cartoon characters from China.
KuaiKan ManHua hosts tons of original and classic Chinese manhua.
The first section on the site is dedicated to original works and editor’s picks, but you can also sort them by new arrivals.
There’s also a “what’s hot/trending” section, plus a section for manhua that is updated daily—which avid manhua or manga readers would greatly appreciate.
And of course, there’s a variety of genre options, such as “Heroine,” “Non-human,” “Youth” and more.
To start reading a manhua, click the title from the homepage. Then, you can read a synopsis of the story, see the digital table of contents, read comments from other readers and find similar manhua.
Next, all you have to do is click “查看第一话“ (chá kàn dì yī huà — “view the first episode”).
We suggest:
“偷偷藏不住”(tōu tōu cáng bù zhù) — Secretly Can’t Hide. A woman falls in love with her brother’s friend. He also develops feelings for her, but an age gap and their situation with her brother poses challenges to their relationship.
“白月光他对我下手了”(bái yuè guāng tā duì wǒ xià shǒu le) — Bai Yueguang, He Attacked Me. A young woman is secretly in love with a man who is seemingly her opposite. But everything changes when she one day wakes up in a hotel room beside him and suddenly becomes his fiancee.
More Chinese Manhua Recommendations
“SQ: Begin W/Your Name!”
Chinese title: SQ从你的名字开始 (SQ cóng nǐ de míng zì kāi shǐ)
Where to read it: You can search for the paperback edition in Chinese from Amazon.
This slice of life manhua has it all: comedy, romance, LGBT characters, drama. It’s almost perfect.
In “SQ: Begin W/Your Name!” two young closeted girls fall in love with each other in high school while dealing with all the typical drama that adolescents have when it comes to hormones, friendship, bullying and identity.
The dialogue in the manhua is simple, but there’s a lot of it. Definitely a good choice for readers with more of a substantial knowledge of hanzi.
“Fights Break Spheres”
Chinese title: 斗破苍穹 (dòu pò cāng qióng)
Where to read it: “Fights Break Spheres” can be found in Chinese at ManHuaTai.
This manhua is also known as “Battle Through the Heavens.” Fighting prodigy Xiao, a young man with the ability to use magic, suddenly loses all of his powers to a great and powerful spirit. This spirit has sapped Xiao of his magical energies in order to create a body for himself.
Things get even more complicated when Xiao’s fiancée refuses to marry him unless he can best her in battle. To get stronger, Xiao begrudgingly trains with the very spirit who took his powers away.
It’s definitely an action-packed read with very simple and brief dialogue. An ideal choice for beginners and intermediate hanzi readers. Advanced learners can still enjoy this manhua as well, albeit more for leisure than practice.
“The Legend and the Hero”
Chinese title: 封神記 (fēng shén jì)
Where to read it: You can read “The Legend and the Hero” in Chinese via ManHuaGui.
If you love action-packed battle manga, this gem from author 鄭健和 (zhèng jiàn hé) — Zheng Jianhe will definitely tickle your fancy.
In “The Legend and the Hero,” gods and humans live in the same world. During the Great Shang Dynasty, the gods don’t find favor in the new emperor. Instead of stepping down at the gods’ request, the emperor decides to launch a massive war against the gods to free humanity from their control once and for all.
Since this manhua has more of a focus on battle scenes and art, the dialogue is pretty minimal. Yet another great pick for beginners or intermediate learners.
“The One”
Chinese title: 獨領風騷 (dú lǐng fēng sāo)
Where to read it: “The One” is available in Mandarin at ManHuaGui.
Taiwan is a hotspot for manhua artists and writers right now. This gem is just one of many great manhua to come from Taiwan.
In “The One,” Lele is a young woman who was born into the wild world of the fashion industry. Her mother and father were once Taiwan’s greatest high-fashion models until a tragic accident killed them both. Lele thinks fashion is vain and pointless until her aunt, a fashion agent, sucks her into the industry.
The art style of this manhua is unique and is definitely appealing to young girls or anyone who enjoys the fashion industry. There’s quite a bit of dialogue, some of it complex, so advanced learners can benefit the most from this manhua.
“The Ravages of Time”
Chinese title: 火鳳燎原 (huǒ fèng liáo yuán)
Where to read it: Read “The Ravages of Time” in hanzi at ManHuaGui.
Because of the complex storytelling and extensive dialogue, this manhua would benefit advanced Chinese learners the best.
Keep in mind that this manhua is a crazy long read that spans nearly 500 chapters!
“Combat Continent”
Chinese title: 斗罗大陆 (dòu luō dà lù)
Where to read it: Read “Combat Continent” in English on SoulLandManga.
This manhua is another action-packed read with more of a focus on martial arts and storytelling.
In “Combat Continent,” a young fighter betrays a famous martial arts sect and attempts suicide by jumping from “Hell’s Peak.” But that’s only the beginning of this ultra-surreal story.
The dialogue of this series is easy to read, so all types of Chinese learners can enjoy “Combat Continent.”
How Can Reading Chinese Mahua Help Me Learn Mandarin?
There’s a genre for everyone. Manhua is usually categorized by genre: Satirical and Political, Comical, Action and Children’s Manhua. Needless to say, it’s easy to find a manhua that’ll entertain you and teach you Chinese.
Reading manhua can improve your Chinese reading skills, much like a regular Chinese-language book would. Reading regular Chinese books is a fun way to brush up on your 汉字 (hàn zì) — Chinese character reading skills. Reading manhua is helpful in the same way, but with the added bonus of some beautiful artwork.
Improve your Chinese skills in a fun, immersive way. Like playing a Chinese video game or watching a Mandarin movie, reading manhua can help you improve your Chinese fluency in a relaxed, fun way. Find a manhua from one of these resources and improve your Mandarin while chilling out.
And if you like learning with fun and authentic Chinese content, you’ll also enjoy using a program like FluentU together with your manhua studies. Learning programs like FluentU make it easy to immerse yourself in the language beyond just the written word, to make sure your learning is well-rounded.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
If you want to continue learning Chinese with interactive and authentic Chinese content, then you'll love FluentU.
FluentU naturally eases you into learning Chinese language. Native Chinese content comes within reach, and you'll learn Chinese as it's spoken in real life.
FluentU has a wide range of contemporary videos—like dramas, TV shows, commercials and music videos.
FluentU brings these native Chinese videos within reach via interactive captions. You can tap on any word to instantly look it up. All words have carefully written definitions and examples that will help you understand how a word is used. Tap to add words you'd like to review to a vocab list.
FluentU's Learn Mode turns every video into a language learning lesson. You can always swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you're learning.
The best part is that FluentU always keeps track of your vocabulary. It customizes quizzes to focus on areas that need attention and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You have a 100% personalized experience.
