Transsexuals in China: The Times They Are A-Changing, and it's in the People's Daily! This is a place where homosexuality is still a secret even to many homosexuals. The New China amazes me at least once every day--and almost always for the better.
Mainland tabloids have recently entered a phase of sudden fascination with transsexuals (TS). Rarely has a month gone by without a detailed account of some out-of-towner with a French-sounding nickname pleading with big-city doctors for a sex-change operation.
Chen Huanran is one of these doctors. The plastic surgery department at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, where he works, is one of the few of its kind in Asia that specializes in the surgery.
"As many as 3,000 people come to us every year," Dr Chen told China Daily. "However, we are very rigorous in screening and approve only a very small number for the actual surgery."
The patients have to go through a lengthy process of psychological counselling and physical checkups before a decision is made.
Dr Chen disapproves of the many sex-change cases in Thailand as "induced by external influences". In China, doctors would not recommend it unless absolutely convinced that the patient's urge is fuelled by innate needs, says Dr Chen.
He calculates that, using a rate of one out of 50,000, China would have 24,000 who suffer from a TS drive. So far, about 500 people on the mainland have undergone surgery.
You will enjoy reading the rest of this story. I am not excerpting more because I want to encourage you to visit the People's Daily and read the news from their perspective. Go ahead, it won't bite you.
