THE first Chinese woman to have a sex
change operation tied the knot Tuesday and
received a marriage certificate from the
government, the Xi'an Evening Posts reported.
The 29-year-old, identified only as A-gang,
was married to Xiaoli in a ceremony in Chengdu,
Southwest China's Sichuan Province on
Tuesday.
The couple have been living together since
2001 but could only wed after A-gang had a
successful sex change operation in the first
half year of 2003 and got his identity card
changed in July.
Explaining his decision for a sex change,
A-Gang said that he had felt like a man trapped
in a woman's body since his youth.
He said: "From an early age, whenever I
entered a women's toilet, a feeling of shame
struck me. And I panicked when beginning to
menstruate at the age of 14. My mother told me
it was inevitable for a woman, but to me, it was
the start of a nightmare."
At the age of 17, he left his home in
Neijiang, Sichuan, when people started gossiping
about his sexual orientation.
In 1991, he met Xiaoli, also from Neijiang,
for the first time, but they lost touch and met
again only in 1996, both feeling they have a lot
of words to say to each other. But soon Xiaoli
got married soon under her parents' arrangement
and had a baby.
2001 was a turning point for them when Xiaoli
got divorced. A-gang expressed his love for her
and their romance started. Soon they began to
live together in Chengdu.
But Xiaoli's parents violently opposed their
relationship and even locked her up when she
returned home to visit them last February. She
managed to escape and the couple returned to
Chengdu.
Then, with the help of a correspondent,
A-gang went for a sex change operation at a
Shenzhen hospital in April. The operatiion was a
success and he was discharged from the hospital
on May 31. Then he applied for a gender change
on his identity card and residence record and
got the approval several days later. He waved
the card to Xiaoli, saying "I am your man
now."
When asked what in A-gang attracted her,
Xiaoli replied: "He is frank, capable and
considerate. Maybe it is fate that pushes us
together. I am destined to be his wife."
