How to Read Tencent Comics in English

Tencent Comics has no English edition. The site at ac.qq.com and the app are Simplified Chinese only, the English app Tencent once ran has gone quiet, and the few titles that reached English platforms are a rounding error next to a catalogue of 30,000 series. So the way to read Tencent Comics in English is to open the Chinese chapter and run Madomi over it, a real-time manga translator by Pawaka Labs that reads the Chinese inside each speech bubble and overlays your language as you scroll. Last checked on 28 September 2026.

Tencent Comics (腾讯动漫, the site everyone shortens to AC.QQ) is the biggest manhua platform in China. It is where The Outcast, Fox Spirit Matchmaker and the Battle Through the Heavens manhua are serialised, where a large share of the donghua you’ve watched started as a weekly comic, and where Tencent parks Chinese editions of One Piece and Naruto next to them.

Almost none of it is readable in English, and the one official attempt to change that has fizzled. Here is what the platform gives you, what it costs from outside China, and how to read it.

Does Tencent Comics have an English version?

No. The web reader at ac.qq.com has no language toggle, and the App Store listing for 腾讯动漫 declares one language, Simplified Chinese. Every menu, every title and every line of lettering is in Chinese.

Tencent did try. A few years ago it launched WeComics, an English app carrying a curated slice of its catalogue. It only ever held a small fraction of the Chinese library, and as of this month it is no longer listed on Google Play, it is not on the App Store, and its last build dates to June 2025. Whatever the official status, it is not a way to read the catalogue today.

Beyond that, “Tencent in English” has meant licensing. Fox Spirit Matchmaker went to Tapas, which is closing by the end of 2026. A few other titles surfaced on WebComics and MangaToon. Those are one-off deals for one title each, not an English Tencent Comics.

Verdict: there is no English Tencent Comics and the one that existed is gone, and Madomi is what turns the Chinese catalogue into a readable one.

Is the series already available in English?

Worth thirty seconds, because a licensed edition is the simplest route when one exists.

Search the English title on MangaToon and WebComics, which carry a large share of the Chinese webcomics that reach English at all, and check Tapas while it is still up. Our guide to reading Chinese manhua in English lists the English platforms in more detail.

The arithmetic is the problem, and it is worse here than on any other Chinese platform. Tencent runs around 30,000 series. The English apps between them carry a few hundred manhua from every Chinese publisher combined, most run behind the Chinese release, and a title that isn’t picked up early almost never is. Even The Outcast, whose anime streams on Crunchyroll with English subtitles, has no English edition of the manhua on any of them. Verdict: check the English apps first, then use Madomi for everything they don’t carry, which is nearly all of it.

Is Tencent Comics free to read?

Mostly, and cheaper than you’d guess when it isn’t.

Free chapters. Nearly every series opens with a long free run, often dozens of chapters, and older and smaller titles are frequently free all the way through. The homepage describes itself as a free reader, and for the back catalogue that is roughly true.

Limited-time free. Tencent runs regular 限免 promotions that open whole series for a window. The app’s free-reading zone lists what is open right now, and a daily check-in hands out free reading passes.

Points and passes. Locked chapters are bought with reading passes, and passes are bought with 点券 points at 100 points to the yuan. A borrow pass (借阅券) costs 19 points and unlocks one chapter for three days. A permanent pass (永久券) costs 29, 39 or 49 points depending on the title and keeps the chapter forever. In the iOS app the smallest top-up is 600 points for 6 yuan, so a permanent chapter works out at well under 10 US cents and a three-day read at about 3. A weekly habit on two or three series costs less than a coffee a month.

V membership. The iOS app sells a V membership at 18 yuan a month or 50 yuan a quarter; the website has historically sold it for less. It gives discounts on paid chapters and a member badge. It does not unlock the catalogue, so treat it as optional.

Verdict: the reading is close to free if you’re patient and cheap if you’re not, the language is the real cost, and Madomi removes it.

Can you use Tencent Comics from outside China?

Yes for reading, with one wrinkle for buying.

The website works anywhere. ac.qq.com loads from outside China in an ordinary browser, no VPN needed. The region locks you may have read about apply to Tencent Video, the streaming service, not to the comics site. Free chapters open without an account at all, so you can be reading in under a minute.

Logging in means QQ or WeChat. That is the wrinkle. The login page offers exactly two options, QQ and WeChat, and QQ stopped accepting foreign phone numbers for new accounts. WeChat still registers them. So the route for an international reader is: install WeChat, sign up with your own number, then choose WeChat login on ac.qq.com and scan the QR code. You only need to do this to buy chapters, bookmark series or sync reading history. QQ and WeChat are separate accounts on Tencent Comics, so pick one and stay with it.

The iOS app is on the App Store outside China. Search 腾讯动漫 on the US store and you will find it, Chinese-only, updated this month, with Apple in-app purchases for points and membership, so a foreign card works for topping up. Points bought on iOS only spend on iOS.

The Android app is not on Google Play. Tencent distributes it through Chinese app stores and its own site. On Android, the browser is the easier route.

Verdict: nothing about the platform locks out an international reader except the Chinese, and Madomi handles that part.

The English routes compared

Route	How much of the catalogue	Up to date with China	Works on any title	Cost
WeComics	A small slice, and the app is unlisted	Was behind	No	Was per chapter
MangaToon / WebComics / Tapas licences	A handful of Tencent titles	Mostly behind	No	Per chapter or subscription
Waiting for a licence	Whatever gets picked up	Years, if ever	No	Free, eventually
Tencent Comics + Madomi	All 30,000	Same day as China	Yes	Free credits monthly, Premium for unlimited

Why Google Translate doesn’t work on Tencent Comics

A manhua chapter is a stack of images. The Chinese you want translated is lettering baked into the artwork, not text in the page.

Browser translators and page-translate buttons only read HTML. Point one at a Tencent chapter and it translates the navigation, the title, the tags and the comments, then hands you back the same Chinese speech bubbles you started with. Screenshot-and-upload tools can read an image, but doing that per panel, for a 60-panel chapter, is not reading. General web translators that have bolted on an image mode, Immersive Translate among them, are still page tools first: there is no manga reader behind them, no library, no series tracking and no chapter alerts, and the sharper OCR sits behind a Pro membership.

Verdict: the job is optical, not textual, and Madomi is built for it.

How to read Tencent Comics in English

Madomi is a real-time manga translator by Pawaka Labs that works as a browser extension on Chrome and Firefox and as a native app on Android and iOS. Open any raw chapter, activate Madomi, and it reads the Chinese text inside every speech bubble using OCR built for comic lettering, then overlays the translation in your language as you scroll. It handles both Simplified and Traditional Chinese.

It’s rated 4.8 out of 5 from 385 Chrome Web Store ratings, with 20,000+ users, the highest-rated manga translator extension on the Chrome Web Store. You get free credits every month, one credit per translated image, and Madomi Premium removes the limit.

Tencent is a good fit for it. The web reader stacks every chapter vertically, so there are no page turns, and the lettering is clean digital type that OCR reads very reliably. The older page-format titles, including the Japanese licences, work too: Madomi’s reader handles paged and long-strip layouts and lets you switch. A translated Tencent chapter reads close to the way an official English release would, with the art underneath untouched.

For the wider picture, our guide to the best manhua raw sites covers Tencent alongside Kuaikan and Bilibili Manhua, and how to read Kuaikan Manhua in English does this same job for the other big Chinese platform, which is the better one for romance and shoujo.

Quick start guide

1. Check MangaToon, WebComics and Tapas first in case your series has an official English release.
2. If it doesn’t, open ac.qq.com and search the Chinese title. Pasting it from the series’ wiki or MyAnimeList entry works well.
3. Read the free run. No account is needed for free chapters.
4. When you hit a locked chapter, log in with WeChat (sign up with your own phone number if you don’t have one) and buy a permanent pass, or check the free-reading zone in case the series is on limited-time free.
5. If you’d rather top up with a foreign card, install the 腾讯动漫 iOS app and buy points there.
6. Open the chapter, turn Madomi on, and scroll. The translation appears over each panel as you go.

Frequently asked questions

How do you read Tencent Comics in English? Open the chapter on ac.qq.com and run Madomi over it. Tencent Comics has no English edition, so an overlay translator is the only way to read most of the catalogue.

Does Tencent Comics have an English version? No. The site and app are Simplified Chinese only. The WeComics English app is unlisted and last updated in mid-2025, and a few licensed titles on Tapas and WebComics are all that reached English.

Is Tencent Comics free to read? Mostly. Long free runs, regular limited-time free promotions, and reading passes for locked chapters at 19 points for a 3-day borrow or 29 to 49 for permanent, with 100 points to the yuan. V membership is 18 yuan a month on iOS and optional.

Can I use Tencent Comics outside China? Yes. The website loads anywhere and free chapters need no account. Buying needs a QQ or WeChat login, and WeChat is the one that still registers foreign phone numbers. The iOS app is on the App Store outside China. The Android app is not on Google Play, so use the browser.

Why does Google Translate not work on Tencent Comics? Because the Chinese is lettering inside images, not text in the page. Page translators do the menus and skip every speech bubble.

What manhua is on Tencent Comics? Around 30,000 series: The Outcast, Fox Spirit Matchmaker, Battle Through the Heavens, Spiritpact, Psychic Princess and most of the manhua behind the big donghua, plus Japanese manga and Korean webtoons in Chinese.

Is it legal to read Tencent Comics with a translator? Yes. Tencent is the official publisher and you are reading from its own site. Madomi translates what is on your screen and nothing is downloaded or redistributed.

Stop Waiting for WeComics to Come Back

Tencent built the biggest comic catalogue in China and then let its English door swing shut. The chapters are still there, most of them free, updating every day of the week, and the only thing between you and them is the lettering.

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