I apologize. I tend to misattribute cdramas to Gu Man so I’m making this short list of her works to avoid confusion.
Source: mydramalist
2014: Boss and Me
Cast: Zhao LiYing and Zhang Han
Episodes: 34
Co-writer: Jin Guo Dong
Director: Liu Chun Chieh
2015: My Sunshine
Never heard of this one.
Cast: Tiffany Tang and Wallace Chung
Episodes: 32
Co-writers: Shen Fei Xian, Mo Bao Fei Bao, and Jin Guo Dong
Director: Liu Chun Chieh
2016: Love O2O
The drama that started it all…
Cast: Yang Yang and Zheng Shuang
Episodes: 30
Co-writers: Shen Fei Xian and Scarlett OuYang
Director: Guo Hu and Lam Yuk Fan
2021: You Are My Glory
Cast: Yang Yang and Dilraba Dilmuhat
Episodes: 32
Director: Wang Zhi
2025: Shine on Me
Cast: Song WeiLong and Zhao JinMai
Episodes: 36
Co-writer: Shen Fei Xian
Director: Chen Zhou Fei
Now, because I kept seeing Shen Fei Xian as Gu Man’s co-writer, I looked her (him?) up as well. She wrote this:
2025: The Best Thing
Cast: Zhang LingHe and Xu RuoHan
Episodes: 28
Co-writer: Ou SiJia
Director: Randy Che
Then, I looked up Ou SiJia as she’s a co-writer, and I saw that she wrote one of my favorites.
2023: Hidden Love
This cdrama is based on a webnovel by Zhu Yi.
Cast: Zhao LuSi and Chen ZheYuan
Episodes: 25
Director: Gia Lee
What six degrees of separation? In Chinese entertainment, it seems like everybody’s interconnected.
I’m reposting @Kate’s observations here. It’ll be interesting making a comparison of her works to see how perspective on love/relationship/marriage, general worldview, etc. have change over the years.
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@Packmule3 — good to read you on this show. It is so interesting to unpick and unpack the early episodes.
What you write, together with @Ibisfeather’s comments, about love at first sight as a Gu Man trope, makes me want to reflect a bit on how this plays out across GM’s other shows.
In Boss and Me, for instance, it’s arguably love at second sight. The chaebol ML first meets the FL at the hospital where she gives blood, but it’s later — when he watches her through a one-way window at work — that he really ‘sees’ her, catching a glimpse of her innocence and optimism when she’s unguarded. He grows to love her despite her evident social “unworthiness”, because of his perception of her directness and sweetness in that moment. He later says that he actually falls in love during their meeting on the office balcony on New Year’s Eve, so this is more a drifting-into-love that begins with an unusual vision of who she really is. At the point of recognition — she is the one — the love-at-first-sight trope kicks in, and from then on he’s a heat-seeking missile.
In Love O2O, the ML doesn’t initially see the FL clearly at all. He glimpses her from behind, notices her speed and precision on the keyboard, and becomes fascinated by the possibility that she might be his equal. He then watches her — again from a distance, in the library, online — and falls in love through observation. Obviously, her beauty plays a role too, but it’s her capability that seems to act as the gateway to fascination and pursuit.
In this show, our ML occupies a more traditional love-at-first-sight space: he sees the FL briefly at a social event, doesn’t interact, and falls in love with the impression and vision of her that captivates him, holding both that love — and later his anger towards it — from one step removed for a full year.
I find myself wondering whether Gu Man is playing with a contemporary notion of courtly love.
Two of my fave cdramas of all time are there. 🥰🙌🏻
I’ve only seen Boss and Me.
I’ll see if I can watch the rest. ☺️
Thanks Queen! ❤️
Hi @gdr03 and thanks @pkmlt3
I looked up what AI would tell me about Gu Man’s novels. Here’s a mash-up from 2 different AI’s.
Gu Man is a popular Chinese internet novelist known for her romantic stories, many of which have been successfully adapted into hit film and television dramas. Reviews of her work generally praise her engaging writing style and appealing characters, though opinions on specific novels can vary.
Overall Style and Themes
• Romantic and Heartwarming: Her novels are generally known for being “feel-good” and sweet, focusing on the subtle emotional evolution of protagonists and often featuring happy endings.
• Engaging and Easy to Read: Many readers find her storytelling captivating and report being unable to put the books down, often re-reading them multiple times.
• Idealized Male Leads: A common element in her stories is the creation of “ideal” male characters—such as the devoted Lin Yusen or the accomplished Xiao Nai—which readers often fall in love with. They are frequently praised as “green flags,” understanding, kind, and perfect partners, often compared to other beloved Gu Man heroes.
• Signature Style: She writes from a female perspective and employs a “signature style” that offers a nuanced portrayal of women’s inner emotional worlds.
• Sweet & Wholesome Romance: Readers love the “fluffy” and “cute” aspects, highlighting the pure, developing relationships and happy endings in dramas like The Oath of Love.
• Emotional Depth: Even with lightheartedness, her stories delve into realistic emotional journeys, from first love to workplace romance, with satisfying character growth.
• Faithful Adaptations: Recent shows, especially Shine on Me, are praised for capturing the subtle, emotional style and faithfulness to the original novels.
• Pacing Issues “Turtle Pace’ (Sometimes): Some viewers find the drama pacing slow and speed up episodes, though the core story remains engaging. Gu Man is a very slow writer (earning her the nickname “turtle”), often leaving readers waiting years for sequels or new books.
🙂
Thank you, @Packmule3!
This list does indeed open up further scope for reflection on Gu Man’s approach to love narratives. I’d love to discuss this more in this space.
I haven’t seen My Sunshine either — now I really want to — and I hadn’t realised that The Best Thing was co-written by Gu Man. I remember enjoying it.
Looking at the synopsis, My Sunshine involves a girl falling in love at first sight and how that plays out with her love interest. That is also the case in Hidden Love, of course. We see a similar pattern in the FL’s instant crush on the 2ML in Shine on Me. In Hidden Love and Shine on Me, the young women are instantly entranced and then hang on in there heroically — maturing in both cases, though with different outcomes. Love at first sight is not always destiny in these stories.
Among other things, it would be interesting to look more closely at the way Gu Man handles feminine love narratives across these works. For instance, my sense is that the introspective Wei Wei in Love O2O is held up as something of a paragon of feminine wisdom. She is head before heart, and that seems to protect her throughout the show, keeping her on a steady trajectory. She is the one being pursued, She excels at work, attracts the top student, exhibits self-control and modesty, and avoids being dragged into drama with rival students, and so on.
Anyway, lots to explore here!
Correction – Wei Wei handles herself well and largely minimises — at times actively neutralising — the impact of drama and envy from other female students in particular. She does experience betrayal, notably in the form of a lack of trust from her closest friend, herself deeply envious of Wei Wei. Xiao Nai supports her, but she is not dependent on his support in these challenges. There is a quality of self-containment about her and an ability to detach.
Thanks for starting us off on this discussion @Kate. I cannot say I recall much of Love O2O and You are My Glory, and I did not watch more than the beginning and the end of Hidden Love. Hence I probably cannot contribute much but I’ll be happy to read. 🙂
six degrees of separation, a hasty note, going off to prewatch the rewatch,
— it is that putting a drama is longterm intensive teamwork and directors often do a lot of their work within a loosely connected orbit of the same people.
Even though auteurship is out of fashion, the rapport between the team and the plan is personal, person-to-person.
Keeping a lid on conflicts making sure people can work to their best ability in the roles they are given — it may look like favoritism/corruption, but its not. (ofcourse it can be, especially in the case of women trying to break into the industry,
@GB — I’m a bit of a sad fan of Love O2O and have seen it countless times — it’s my top comfort show — and the same goes for Boss and Me. I’ve only watched Hidden Love once, but there was a deep dive on BoD that really helped it settle in my mind.
I hope you’ll feel inspired if we get underway with this.
@Kate, I’d love to be inspired to rewatch Gu Man’s shows, if only I didn’t have several projects coming up. If I start watching in order to discuss with some sense and clarity, I will have to more than double my ‘watch’ time with the rewatch plus with note-taking.
😥🤔😣😇
@GB – that sounds like too hefty a load – your critical readership will also be valued!
@Packmule3, looking afresh at your list, I’ve just realised that Gu Man had no direct involvement in Hidden Love — I got the wrong end of the stick there. It’s still interesting to compare the FL protagonists’ journeys, but it’s not a pure GM example.
I do hope Gu Man writes something new in the future. I think all of her existing works have now been dramatized.
Yes, @Kate.
Gu Man had no direct involvement with both “The Best Thing” and “Hidden Love.” But the screenwriter Shen Fei Xian of “The Best Thing” has worked with Gu Man on a number of projects so I can safely assume that there’s some similarity in their style and outlook in life. (Otherwise, a collaboration wouldn’t work out from the start.)
Same with the writer of “Hidden Love.” She worked with Shen Fei Xian who worked with Gu Man.
I like to think of this as Gu Man’s influencing the next group of writers to write in her (gentle) style or about her (sweet, innocent romance) themes. It’s the same as that military writer Tom Clancy influencing authors like Larry Bond, Dale Brown and Mark Greeney (who co-wrote with Tom Clancy).
Thanks for clarifying, @Packmule3 — that makes a lot of sense.
I like to think of Gu Man as influencing the next generation of writers.
It also seems she hasn’t produced anything new since around 2015.
@Kate,
I recall reading that the male lead character in “Boss and Me” would turn out to be “Love O2O” Xiao Nai’s company sponsor. The male lead was a venture capitalist and he invested in Xiao Nai’s gaming company or something like that. That’s why I checked out B&M. I didn’t go far, though.
Anyway, just wanted you to know that there was a tie-in between the two stories.
My middle and last comment come before my first comment.
I hadDifficulty posting , perhaps because it is so long.
@monmor,
I’ll move your three posts to the “Shine on Me” Open Thread: Eps 1 to 24.
pm3
@Packmule3,
Thank you for the heads up. I like tie-ins of this sort.
I am going to go back and find his character in Love 020 just out of interest.
Thanks for your research on Gu Man, @GB and taking time to write it down.
Re. the pacing issues
Is Gu Man the turtle because she writes slowly like a turtle?
I don’t mind, really. I rather like the idea that she’s living a rich, rewarding life totally unrelated to Chinese entertainment, and that she’s taking time to cultivate her worldview and life philosophy.
Or is her story a turtle because the romance moves slowly?
I also don’t mind that the love story is a slow-burn and that the love/understanding between the two main leads develops gradually. Most of us at BOD have always been skeptical of hastily-formed love relationships. Even if the leads do feel an instant attraction, then we still expect them to get to learn about each other, become friends, go through adversity together, and connect intellectually and emotionally. We want to see shared values and objectives.
Unfortunately, we don’t get these from Hollywood shows and movies nowadays.
The B&M male lead’s character wasn’t featured in Love O2O, and even if he was, he was probably played by a different actor. It was something I read in the translated webnovels of Love O2O way back when.
If I remember correctly, there were chapters about the men with their wives meeting together, and their families associating in social events (similar to how Nie Xiguang’s family and Lin YuSen’s family knew each other through the business world).
I skipped those chapters, sadly enough. At that time, I hadn’t seen B&M and the plot of Love O2O could stand on its own.
@Packmule3,
Thank you for the heads-up.
I didn’t make the connection when I watched the show, but I’ve just checked the cast list and seen Feng Teng’s name there. I remember the scenes where his character plays a key role — though not for very long on screen — in Xiao Nai’s business evolution. I like this fun blending of drama worlds.
Greetings!! great discussion of GuMan. I think I have seen most of the dramas that you listed. The one that I have not seen is ‘you are my glory’. I probably will catch it next week.
About GuMan being referred to as the Turtle – It looks like she takes her time to write these novels and hence referred to as the turtle. I like that even the novels and their characters move slowly getting to know each other and forming a relationship / bond which make is long lasting vs. a quick relationship is a recipe for disaster.
Also, I saw a clip / interview where they said that this was going to be the last romantic novel from her. So, we might not any later.
Oh this prompted my memory that in Hidden Love, Sangzhi’s friend’s name was Weiwei. ☺️
Weiwei was the FL’s name in Love O2O. ☺️
@pkml3, about being slow like a turtle… it’s to do more with Gu Man’s output. She takes her time.
I just had a Day of Recollection where we reflected on silence, stillness and with it as an automatic accompaniment,… slowing down. It is good to make time to be aware, to appreciate what is and to be thankful. Silence is part of the language of God.
Gu Man’s style of not needing to rush, to satisfy demands, to make more money is refreshing.
I certainly have grown to like moderately slow burn romances… something realistic and achievable by normal people rather than a quick, dramatic trajectory to meet the end-episode deadline.
I can’t take the credit for writing about Gu Man… it’s from AI!!!