CHINA: 84-year-old Chinese trans-sexual Qian Jinfan explains why she closeted herself for eight decade

Record ID: 335344

  • Title: CHINA: 84-year-old Chinese trans-sexual Qian Jinfan explains why she closeted herself for eight decade
  • Date: 10th July 2012
  • Summary: OLD PORTRAIT PHOTO OF QIAN AS A MAN AT AGE 59 OLD PHOTOS OF QIAN OLD PHOTO OF QIAN AS A MAN AT AGE 59, POSING IN FRONT OF PLUM TREES
  • Embargoed: 25th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: People,Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVA44BA0JP2RKRUBKRU0P5ZACLK
  • Story Text: At first glance, 84-year-old retired Chinese Communist Party official Qian Jinfan might look like an ordinary woman in a dress and heels strolling down the streets of Foshan city in southern Guangdong province.
    But Qian, who also goes by the name "Yiling", is believed to be the oldest person in China to live openly as a trans-sexual.
    Even in her earliest memories, Qian had always felt she was a girl, she told Reuters last Friday (July 6) in an hour-long interview.
    But decades ago, before sex-change operations existed in China, Qian had made peace with the fact that she was born with a man's body.
    She often wore unisex clothes, married a woman 25 years her junior when she was 54, worked for Foshan's Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film, Television, Press and Publication, and only moved like a woman when she was alone.
    But when technology offered the options of hormone cream, tablets and injections, Qian first experimented with them at about the age of 60.
    While these products gave her breasts, they also stripped her of her male sex organ's ability to perform.
    Qian decided to wait until she was sure that her wife, who eventually learned about her desire to to be a woman after their marriage, no longer needed her in the bedroom.
    "When it was clear to me that she (Qian's wife) had no more needs, I took action. After I took action, since I'm very strict with myself, which means ... when I was 80, at that time, because of my character, I don't always do things, but when I do something I must declare it publicly. After I've become this way (lost my ability to perform sexually), that's when I came out," Qian said.
    Although Qian longs to receive a full sex-change operation, she said she would not consider getting one until it could guarantee her a 100 percent female body that was complete with a woman's bodily functions.
    Qian admitted that that day might never come.
    Qian began speaking to the media about a month ago in hopes of breaking down traditional assumptions and stirring up discussions surrounding trans-sexuals in society.
    "The power of habit in society is a huge obstacle. It's a huge obstacle. So I hope the power of habit in society can be changed, can be eradicated, so that transgendered people can have real equality," Qian said.
    Qian said she had written to her former employer stating her intention to live as a woman. She did not receive any objections nor did her benefits decrease.
    She also praised Foshan city's open-mindedness and said her neighbours did not make a fuss when she began walking down the streets in women's clothing four years ago.
    A passer-by with his daughter said he had issues with Qian's behaviour.
    "Of course there is (a problem) with a man cross-dressing as a woman. If you were born a man, why the hell would you do that to yourself? It's not very nice," said Foshan resident Huo Xin.
    But other locals have shown a different attitude.
    Yuan Wei, who works at a small boutique that Qian now frequents, said she remembered the first time they met and thought it was strange that she would opt for a measuring tape instead of the changing room.
    Yuan said she did not realize that her customer was a cross-dresser until she read about her in the papers, but still she treated her like any other woman.
    "Actually nowadays, if you know you like it this way, it's very normal. Now this kind of thing is very normal. When we see her shopping for clothes, in our hearts we don't reject her. I treat her like any other girl. I don't feel discomfort or unnatural in my heart," Yuan said.
    About 2,000 people in China have undergone sex-change surgery and up to 400,000 could be considering one, according to a report in 2009 by state newspaper China Daily.
    The government's sex-change operation regulations mandate that the patient must be single, proven to be mentally stable and must have consistently wanted to change to the opposite sex for at least five years.
    China's first sex-change surgery took place nearly 30 years ago in Beijing in 1983.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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