Arts.Guardian.co.uk
Feeling trapped in an alien body, Jin Xing underwent one of the first sex changes in China. The Red Army colonel who dared everything to become a prima ballerina tells her story
The Jeep is parked in front of our house in Beijing. Li Jian, the driver, is getting impatient: we’re going to be late. Mother has come out for a last goodbye. She is leaning against the doorframe, tears running down her face. She has devoted herself to me, her only son. In China, it’s the son who continues the family line; the son who is showered with love; the son who matters most. And now she is about to lose her son and gain another daughter.