Liu Ting, an exemplary son who was awarded honors by the Chinese government for his 15-year-long stint taking care of his sick mother, has returned to headlines once more by announcing the successful completion of his gender reassignment surgery.
"I feel I have become complete after the operation," Liu told the Beijing Times, "I really hated masculine characteristics in myself since high school."
A native of Huzhou in Zhejiang Province, Liu first rose to fame after the government awarded her for the filial piety she showed throughout middle school and university, naming her "National Model of Morality" and "Zhejiang's Pride".
Her fame, she says, was a double-edged sword: it brought national attention and a stream of donations to help her mother's condition, but it also prevented her from being able to express her gender identity.
In August she announced her intent to undergo gender reassignment surgery, but was contacted by Zhejiang officials and advised not to publicize the connection with her previously awarded model citizen title. The officials' advice was met with backlash on Chinese social media, with an unexpected number of web users voicing their support for Liu's struggle.
"She looks pretty," one person writes. "It's two separate issues between being a model citizen and changing gender."
Liu's mother was at first against the idea of the change.
"I waited to see if she became 'normal' when grown up. She is a national moral model. What would others say if her gender identity problem were exposed?"
Her mother came around though when she went with Liu to a psychologist who diagnosed her with congenital gender dysphoria. Liu had felt discomfort with her biological gender from an early age, and since the completion of the operation has changed her name to a more feminine counterpart. She plans to publish her autobiography soon, with her mother now on her side.
"If I had continued to set myself against Liu, I would have lost my only child," she says, "I believe society will understand and accept her eventually."
Liu's mother is perhaps more right than she knows. China has had difficulty adapting to the rest of the world's growing acceptance of the LGBTQ community, but of the over 190,000 Weibo comments, an unprecedented number are positive. In other media spheres, figures like transgender talk show host and ex-dancer Jin Xing are exploding in popularity and gaining acceptance.
While Chinese society is still learning to be on board with atypical gender roles, if mainstream media sensationalism is any indicator, it's definitely on the right path.
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