20 LIFEPULSE THURSDAY MARCH 29, 2007 CHINA DAILY The big smile said Making the cut it all A 50-year-old HOT POT farmer is on the brink of realizing a life-long dream, JUDY POLUMBAUM thanks to the y dad, who passed away six support of his years ago, was one of the most family and society. Maffable people you can imag- ine. When I was a kid, he used to mor- tify me by striking up conversations Wu Yong reports with total strangers everywhere. Parents’ quirks often surface hen Feifei always says at in their children, of course — so fi rst meeting: “Please call eventually, as an adult, I found me Sister Chen.” This may myself doing the same thing. Just sound ordinary — except ask my kids; they’ll tell you how that Chen Fei is a 50-year- I constantly embarrass them by Cold farmer who was born a man. He’s chatting with people I’ve never met on the threshold of fulfilling his before and may never see again — in dream to be a woman. elevators, in line for movie tickets, Chen nervously paced a hallway at at the grocery store. Shenyang’s Apricot Plastic Surgery A freelance photographer, my Hospital two weeks ago. His wife dad faced subjects ranging from and sister were tucked deep into a diplomats and corporate executives sofa around the corner, glancing up to artists, athletes, fi shermen and briefl y when a visitor entered before factory workers, so his ability to get looking down to avoid eye contact. along with everybody served him Dressed in women’s clothes, with a well. At bottom, though, it was not fashionable light green coat and black utilitarian purpose that gave rise to boots, and wearing pink nail polish, his friendliness; it was a profoundly outwardly Chen already has made a democratic attitude that made him convincing male-to-female transition. converse as easily with a US senator He’s just waiting to undergo fi nal sex as with a janitor. reassignment surgery in April. Chen is I’d actually been pathologically from Liaozhong County, some 700 kilo- shy as a child, but once I started meters northeast of Beijing, where he work as a newspaper reporter, my has lived as a married man for nearly inheritance became second nature. three decades. He and his wife have After all, much of journalism’s raw raised two daughters, and he supple- material comes from listening to ments their farm income with a side job strangers. And sometimes the best repairing household appliances. stories and sources come from ser- endipitous encounters on the street. hen says he always differed While my days of daily reporting from his neighbors slightly are past, my journalistic habits per- C— he dressed more tidily and sist, and I continue to fi nd chance was more concerned with cleanliness encounters a source of endless fasci- — but didn’t start to feel like a woman nation. Now that I’m back in Beijing until about a decade ago. Chen Feifei, 50, models on International Women’s Day on March 8 after undergoing gender-change operation at for a couple of months, however, The psychological change was ac- the Apricot Plastic Surgery Hospital in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. Huang Jinkun chatting with strangers takes on companied by physical sensations, new dimensions that I don’t always Chen recalled. “I found that my Shenyang’s plastic surgery hospital years with his transgender feelings: The example of a celebrity such as welcome. shoes became too big while my torso to advocate on his behalf. His psychological gender — his deep- top designer Jimmy, who is openly On the one hand, if I initiate the got smaller,” and his skin seemed to est awareness of his identity — does transgendered and whose star cli- interaction, typically with a request grow whiter and smoother, he said. t fi rst the hospital’s president, Dr not correspond to the parts he was ents include Ricky Martin, Jet Li and for directions, I get gleeful reactions “From then on, I could not help Shi Lingzhi, who oversees trans- born with, she said. Zhang Ziyi, has contributed to the to my Beijing-infl ected Manda- dreaming of living as a woman.” Agender surgery, rejected their China is gradually coming to ac- climate of rising tolerance. rin Chinese. On the other hand, With two daughters still in school, request. “I could not understand why cept the existence and realities of The process is complex: Since last Chinese who notice this middle- Chen kept the sensations secret even a 50-year farmer wanted to do this,” she “transgender” individuals, who can August, Chen has undergone three aged casually dressed woman with as they grew stronger. At night, said; in fact, she admitted, she thought range from cross-dressers to those operations to sharpen his chin, re- dirty-blond hair and green eyes however, he stealthily began cross- Chen was out of his mind. who actually seek surgical genital move his Adam’s apple and augment wandering a subway platform or a dressing in his wife Li Min’s nylons But as she learned more, and par- correction to match their internal his breasts, and he is scheduled for a department store may well seize a and skirts. When she discovered him, ticularly in light of his wife’s strong gender identifi cation. fi nal operation in April. chance to practice their English. she felt scared, deeply ashamed and support, she changed her mind. No one knows how many transgen- The ultimate aim, Shi noted, is Being a sounding board for a haunted by the idea that others might “Chen is very lucky. His family dered people exist in China, but Shi es- “to help Chen rebalance his inner language learner is not always my fi nd out some day, Li recalled. “How understands and supports him,” Shi timates that “gender-identity disorder” and outward selves”. The key to idea of fun. If I’m tired, distracted, would they look at us?” remarked. occurs in at least one of every 100,000 success is not “technical”, she said; or in a bad mood, or if the speaker Gradually, villagers began to no- Nevertheless, given the surgery’s people — which would mean more the main challenge is dealing with seems to be talking at me rather tice Chen’s changing behavior. But irreversibility and permanence, Shi than 10,000 gender non-conformists the psychological aspects of the sex than to me and doesn’t catch what I in a surprising contrast to what one took a cautious approach. She ap- in China. Only a tiny fraction of that reassignment surgery. say ever-so-slowly in response, I’m might expect from traditional villag- proved only after Chen had provided number have sought surgery. But Chen said he is feeling confi - seldom inclined to carry on. I prefer ers, perhaps refl ecting growing con- 16 supporting documents, including Shi’s hospital is known as one of dent and joyful at the prospect of liv- two-way communication, for what is sciousness of gender non-conformity affi davits from a psychiatrist, rela- the best in China for such operations, ing as a woman at last. His plans to a conversation if not an exchange? spread through news of high-profi le tives and his local police. and she said they have performed start afresh where nobody knows him An incident last week, however, cases, they did not reject or ostracize Liu Yin of China Medical Univer- transsexual surgery on fi ve people as a former man are already mov- reminded me that crossing paths him. sity, the psychiatrist who did the in recent years amidst growing ing forward; he has leased his plot with strangers has its own rewards. “Sure, it was really unusual,” com- mental competency evaluation, ex- knowledge of a condition that was of land back home for 10,000 yuan I was waiting to board the light rail mented a local resident, Zhang Ying. plained why Chen had struggled for hardly recognized in the past. ($1,300) and rented a fl at in the city when a fellow with shaggy graying “But it was Lao Chen’s choice and it’s of Shenyang, where he’s hoping to do hair wheeled by on one of those none of our business. Chen is a good promotions for a beauty parlor. folding mini-bikes. “American?” he man.’’ Several years ago, Chen even His wife and daughters have moved asked in English. When I said yes, felt comfortable enough to begin to Shenyang with him. But he asks he gave me a big gap-toothed smile openly dressing as a woman and his wife to call him “sister” and his and pedaled on. wearing makeup. daughters to call him “aunt”. Half an hour later, he passed me A turning point came in July 2006, Other challenges undoubtedly lie on his bike in the street; evidently when his elder daughter, Xiao Ying, ahead. Chen has yet to persuade local we’d disembarked at the same sta- graduated from medical college. police to change the sex designation tion. He halted to give me a hearty For the fi rst time, he declared to on his birth certifi cate and identity greeting before cycling on. In an- his family what all of them already card. And if they grant the change, other 15 minutes, as I was walking knew — that he wanted to be a woman. he might have to divorce his wife on a college campus, there he was His wife found herself resistant — but because China’s current Marriage again, rounding a corner.