Transgender people in China
[10] While research shows that China's younger population is much more accepting of transgender people, offensive terminology like "jan-jim" or "bin-sing-jan" is very common.
[2] In the mid-1930s, after the father of Yao Jinping (姚錦屏) went missing during the war with Japan, the 19-year-old reported having lost all feminine traits and become a man, was said to have an Adam's apple and flattened breasts, and left to find him.
[15] Although, before 1978, male to female cross dressing was mostly for theatrical performances, used for comedic effect or to disguise a character in order to commit a crime or defeat enemies.
[17] In modern-day Peking Opera and film, there are male to female cross dressers and vice versa for characters, especially with certain time periods.
[17] After the World Health Organization dropped “gender identity disorder” from its International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) in 2018, China promoted the new guidelines in medical institutions across the country.
[22] On October 31, 2024, a Chinese transgender woman was approved by Changli county people’s court in Qinhuangdao to receive 60,000 yuan (£6,552) in compensation from a hospital that gave her electroshock conversion treatment against her will.
The following documents are required in order to apply for gender reassignment:[24][25] However, changing the ID card information will lead to an abnormal match with the academic qualifications, which often seriously impacts one's employment.
)[26] In China, trans women are required to notify family, prove they have no criminal record, and receive psychological treatment in order to be allowed a prescription for hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
[33] In 2009 the Chinese government made it illegal for minors to change their officially-listed gender, stating that sexual reassignment surgery, available to only those over the age of twenty, was required in order to apply for a revision of their identification card and residence registration.
[34] In early 2014 the Shanxi province started allowing minors to apply for the change with the additional information of their guardian's identification card.
[37] Tongyu Lala was an organization based in Beijing that combatted discrimination against and was an advocate for social inclusion of lesbians, bisexual women, and transgender people.
[41][42][43] According to a survey conducted by Peking University, Chinese trans female students face strong discrimination in many areas of education.
[44] Sex segregation is found everywhere in Chinese schools and universities: student enrollment (for some special schools, universities and majors), appearance standards (hairstyles and uniforms included), private spaces (bathrooms, toilets and dormitories included), physical examinations, military trainings, conscription, PE classes, PE exams and physical health tests.
It is also difficult to change the gender information of educational attainments and academic degrees in China, even after sex reassignment surgery, which results in discrimination against well-educated trans women.
[45][46] A 2021 survey in Beijing showed that half of the transgender respondents do not express their gender identity at work and 34% said they had experienced workplace discrimination.
[20] In 2019, Amnesty International reported that transgender people in China resorted to unregulated used of medication and self-surgery due to inadequate access to information, legal and administrative barriers to gender-affirming surgeries.
Despite the female to male cross dressing, the woman would eventually return to her socially gendered roles of wearing women's clothes and would marry a man.
