According to Sina.com, Zhang Li, a 51-year-old man from Liyang in Henan Province, has started a series of operations to change his sex, starting with a breast enlargement operation.
The hospital doing the operations is not named in the article, but referred to as “a certain hospital on Shaoshan Road” in Changsha. However the director of the hospital is named and quoted, talking about the relative complexity of breast enlargement operations compared with the more complicated work of removing a penis and creating female sexual organs.
Apparently, Zhang Li won some kind of lucky draw to get a free breast enlargement operation. After meeting Zhang and seeing his fervent desire to become a woman, the hospital director decided to give him a free sex change as well, presumably in return for some publicity.
Zhang Li was married for ten years and has a daughter, but is now estranged from both ex-wife and daughter.
According to the Sina.com article, China’s first sex change operation took place in 1990. Over 200 sex change operations have been completed in China since then. The article says that Zhang Li’s free sex change operation normally costs about 300,000 yuan (USD36,000).
- Sina.com (Chinese): Fifty something man’s sex change breast enlargement successful: in half a year he will become have a woman’s body
- Danwei: Index of articles about transsexuals and sex change operations
- The image was taken from the Sina.com article, and shows Zhang Li about to go under the knife for breast enlargement