The BBC Chinese post from January 21, 2026 highlights the rapid rise of Girls' Love (GL) — lesbian-themed romance series — as one of Asia's most successful cultural exports in recent years.

Key points from the post and linked BBC article (translated/summarized in English):
  • The Girls' Love (GL) genre (also called "女同" or female same-sex romance) has exploded, especially in Thailand, building directly on the earlier success of Boys' Love (BL) series.
  • It's now a multi-million-dollar industry, with estimates in the tens of millions of dollars.
  • The movement is reshaping how LGBT characters and stories are portrayed in entertainment, moving away from tragic or stereotypical Western depictions toward more positive, fulfilling narratives with happy endings and deeper character development.
  • This shift is also redefining global fan culture, creating massive, dedicated international communities (especially among queer women across Asia, Latin America, and beyond).
  • Thai GL series often air domestically, then quickly appear on platforms like YouTube with multilingual subtitles, reaching huge global audiences very fast.
Notable examples frequently mentioned in related coverage:
  • GAP The Series (2022) — widely seen as the breakthrough title that sparked the boom. It achieved hundreds of millions of views and proved massive demand for well-produced sapphic stories.
  • Later hits include series like The Secret of Us, 23.5, The Loyal Pin, Show Me Love, and many others.
  • By 2025–2026, over 20–30 GL series had aired or were in production in Thailand alone, with companies like GMMTV, Idol Factory, and others heavily investing.
The genre benefits from:
  • Lower production costs compared to mainstream TV/movies
  • Fast adaptation from novels/web series
  • Strong chemistry between leads
  • Active fan engagement via social media, fan meetings, and merchandise
  • Thailand's relatively progressive environment for queer content (especially after the 2025 same-sex marriage legalization)
Reactions are mixed globally — enthusiastic support from fans celebrating better representation, while some critics raise concerns about commercialization, cultural impact, or demographic effects.Overall, Thai GL has become a major part of Thailand's "soft power" push, similar to how BL series did earlier, and it's increasingly influencing markets like China despite local content restrictions on domestic LGBTQ+ stories.Let me know if you'd like more details about specific series, actors, or comparisons with BL!