China's transgenders 'step forward' from the shadows


Long pressured to deny their identities, transgender people in China are quietly asserting themselves.

Shanghai (AFP) - Lan spent years trapped between two identities: the male gender assigned to her at birth and the woman she was inside -- a living "torture" in a China not yet ready to fully embrace transgenders.

The Shanghai native, who asked that her full name be withheld, misled friends and family with a macho facade but eventually, depressed by her identity crisis, underwent gender-reassignment surgery in 2015.

Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!

Next In Regional

Why China’s humanoid robots are still waiting for their ‘ChatGPT moment’
Singapore turns tide in evolving fight against scams
Africa emerges as new arena in US-China competition over artificial intelligence
China’s parents are outsourcing the homework grind to AI
Where are China’s AI doomers?
China's overstretched healthcare looks to AI boom
Smaller, faster, smarter: Chinese transistor ready for future AI chips
Jimmy Lai to be sentenced on Monday in Hong Kong national security trial
Chinese AI firms defend safety practices, push back on Western criticism
Chinese AI goes next level in geometry at a top US maths Olympiad

Others Also Read