A random collection of over 1910 books and audiobooks authored by or about my transgender, intersex sisters, and gender-nonconforming persons all over the world. I read some of them, and I was inspired by some of them. I met some of the authors and heroines, some of them are my best friends, and I had the pleasure and honor of interviewing some of them. If you know of any transgender biography that I have not covered yet, please let me know.
Original title: "Nü ren meng: Zhongguo bian xing di yi ren" 女人梦: 中国变性第 (A Woman's dream: The first transgender person in China) by Yingru Den.
Zhang Kesha (张克莎), formerly known as Zhang Kesha, was born in Dalian in 1962 in a high-ranking family, and later settled in Changsha, Hunan Province with her parents. At the end of 1982, under Zhang Kesha's repeated insistence and struggle, her parents who loved their children finally acquiesced to her request for sex change.
In January of the following year, Zhang Kesha successfully underwent sex reassignment surgery at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Beijing Medical University.
2003,
China,
Chinese,
Yingru Den,
Zhang Kesha,
Original title: "Wǒ běn jiārén" 我本佳人 (I am a beautiful woman) by Liu Ting 刘婷.
"This is an autobiographical novel and a book of persevering to chase the dream. In the past more than 20 years of life, Liu changed from an ordinary rural child into a well-known public figure; she was the national "moral model" in the eyes of people, and she chose "love" between "the survival of the fittest" and "love".
With tiny hope, she resolutely took her mother on her back on the road of study; she was a transsexual patient struggling in front of morality and nature. As a man, she wanted to become a woman. After the painful psychological struggle, she finally made up her mind to become a real woman through surgery."
2015,
China,
Chinese,
Liu Ting,
"Thāng plīan" ทางเปลี่ยน (Change of Path) is the Thai language edition of "Tiǎozhàn shàngdì de cuò: Jīnxīng de wǔmèng rénshēng" - 挑戰上帝的錯：金星的舞夢人生 (Challenging God's Mistakes: Venus' Dancing Life), published by Jin Xing in 2004.
Jin Xing (Chinese: 金星; pinyin: Jīn Xīng) was born in 1967 in Shenyang, China, to an ethnic Korean family. She is a Chinese ballerina, modern dancer, choreographer, actress, founder, and artistic director of the contemporary dance company Shanghai.
In addition, she is a transgender celebrity and icon of the Chinese transgender community. This unusual memoir describes how China's foremost male ballet dancer (and colonel in the People's Army) underwent one of China's first sex-change operations and became the Shanghai Ballet's prima ballerina.
2006,
China,
Jin Xing,
Thai,
Full title: "Shanghai lalas: female Tongzhi communities and politics in urban China" by Lucetta Yip Lo Kam.
"This is the first ethnographic study of lala (lesbian, bisexual, and transgender) communities and politics in China, focusing on the city of Shanghai. Based on several years of in-depth interviews, the volume concentrates on lalas’ everyday struggle to reconcile same-sex desire with a dominant rhetoric of family harmony and compulsory marriage, all within a culture denying women’s active and legitimate sexual agency.
Lucetta Yip Lo Kam reads discourses on homophobia in China, including the rhetoric of “Chinese tolerance” and considers the heteronormative demands imposed on tongzhi subjects. She treats “the politics of public correctness” as a newly emerging tongzhi practice developed from the culturally specific, Chinese forms of regulation that inform tongzhi survival strategies and self-identification."
2012,
China,
English,
Lucetta Yip Lo Kam,
Full title: "China's First Transgender: The Life and Times of Zhang Kesha" by Bruce Eastley.
"At a very young age, Zhang Kesha could not relate to being a boy, having a preference for girls with their dolls as playmates. As he grew older, his clothing and appearances drew unwelcome attention, but the taunts and criticism failed to dampen his quest to attain full fledge womanhood. In 1983, he became she, but difficulties and dangers seemed to multiply. Seeking refuge in a number of locations, Kesha finally found her peace and tranquility with a new marriage and a full life in Sacramento, California."
"Her name is Zhang Kesha, but she goes by Sasha Eastly and she underwent her first transition on January 10, 1983 in Beijing. Living in Sacramento for 17 years, she has a newly published book called, "The Life and Times of Zhang Kesha: China's First Transgender"."
2023,
Bruce Eastley,
China,
English,
Zhang Kesha,
"Tiǎozhàn shàngdì de cuò: Jīnxīng de wǔmèng rénshēng" - 挑戰上帝的錯：金星的舞夢人生 (Challenging God's Mistakes: Venus' Dancing Life) is the biography of Jin Xing, which was published in many languages.
Jin Xing (Chinese: 金星; pinyin: Jīn Xīng) was born in 1967 in Shenyang, China, to an ethnic Korean family. She is a Chinese ballerina, modern dancer, choreographer, actress, founder, and artistic director of the contemporary dance company Shanghai.
In addition, she is a transgender celebrity and icon of the Chinese transgender community. This unusual memoir describes how China's foremost male ballet dancer (and colonel in the People's Army) underwent one of China's first sex-change operations and became the Shanghai Ballet's prima ballerina.
2004,
China,
Chinese,
Jin Xing,
"Zhìdìyǒushēng: wǒ bùxiǎng gǎibiàn shìjiè, yě bùxiǎng bèi shìjiè gǎibiàn" - 掷地有声: 掷地有声我不想改变世界，也不想被世界改变 (Loudly: I don't want to change the world, and I don't want to be changed by the world) is the collection of Jin Xing's essays about womanhood.
'Jin Xing's first essay book tells you what a woman should do and how to live a life to the fullest! 47 insightful articles, do not only talk about what you want to hear, they only say what others dare not say. The truth is loud and sound, and the truth stirs energy everywhere. Jin xing talks about the beauty of women: "Sexiness is not about putting it on, it's about making men think about you, have the urge to take care of you, and talk about you when talking to other men." "Sexy is for men to run after them!"
Jin Xing talks about the happiness of being a wife and mother and talks about practical durability. The enviable family of five has made her know how happiness needs to be managed.
Why do people say that "marriage is the graveyard of love"? Marriage is the graveyard of love! What's so bad about the grave? The grave does not refer to death, but to detachment!'
2013,
China,
Chinese,
Jin Xing,
"Rien n'arrive par hasard" (Nothing happens by chance) is the French language edition of "Tiǎozhàn shàngdì de cuò: Jīnxīng de wǔmèng rénshēng" - 挑戰上帝的錯：金星的舞夢人生 (Challenging God's Mistakes: Venus' Dancing Life), published by Jin Xing in 2004.
Jin Xing (Chinese: 金星; pinyin: Jīn Xīng) was born in 1967 in Shenyang, China, to an ethnic Korean family. She is a Chinese ballerina, modern dancer, choreographer, actress, founder, and artistic director of the contemporary dance company Shanghai.
In addition, she is a transgender celebrity and icon of the Chinese transgender community. This unusual memoir describes how China's foremost male ballet dancer (and colonel in the People's Army) underwent one of China's first sex-change operations and became the Shanghai Ballet's prima ballerina.
2005,
China,
French,
Jin Xing,
"Bàn mèng: Jīnxīng zìzhuàn" - 半夢：金星自傳 (Half a Dream: Autobiography of Venus) is the second Chinese language edition of Jin Xing's biography.
Jin Xing (Chinese: 金星; pinyin: Jīn Xīng) was born in 1967 in Shenyang, China, to an ethnic Korean family. She is a Chinese ballerina, modern dancer, choreographer, actress, founder, and artistic director of the contemporary dance company Shanghai.
In addition, she is a transgender celebrity and icon of the Chinese transgender community. This unusual memoir describes how China's foremost male ballet dancer (and colonel in the People's Army) underwent one of China's first sex-change operations and became the Shanghai Ballet's prima ballerina.
2006,
China,
Chinese,
Jin Xing,
"Volevo diventare una ballerina" (I wanted to become a ballerina) is the Italian language edition of "Tiǎozhàn shàngdì de cuò: Jīnxīng de wǔmèng rénshēng" - 挑戰上帝的錯：金星的舞夢人生 (Challenging God's Mistakes: Venus' Dancing Life), published by Jin Xing in 2004.
Jin Xing (Chinese: 金星; pinyin: Jīn Xīng) was born in 1967 in Shenyang, China, to an ethnic Korean family. She is a Chinese ballerina, modern dancer, choreographer, actress, founder, and artistic director of the contemporary dance company Shanghai.
In addition, she is a transgender celebrity and icon of the Chinese transgender community. This unusual memoir describes how China's foremost male ballet dancer (and colonel in the People's Army) underwent one of China's first sex-change operations and became the Shanghai Ballet's prima ballerina.
2006,
China,
Italian,
Jin Xing,
"Shanghai Tango: Mein Leben als Soldat und Tänzerin" (Shanghai Tango: My life as a soldier and dancer) is the German language edition of "Tiǎozhàn shàngdì de cuò: Jīnxīng de wǔmèng rénshēng" - 挑戰上帝的錯：金星的舞夢人生 (Challenging God's Mistakes: Venus' Dancing Life), published by Jin Xing in 2004.
Jin Xing (Chinese: 金星; pinyin: Jīn Xīng) was born in 1967 in Shenyang, China, to an ethnic Korean family. She is a Chinese ballerina, modern dancer, choreographer, actress, founder, and artistic director of the contemporary dance company Shanghai.
In addition, she is a transgender celebrity and icon of the Chinese transgender community. This unusual memoir describes how China's foremost male ballet dancer (and colonel in the People's Army) underwent one of China's first sex-change operations and became the Shanghai Ballet's prima ballerina.
2008,
China,
German,
Jin Xing,
"Το τανγκό της Σανγκάης" (The Shanghai Tango) is the Greek language edition of "Tiǎozhàn shàngdì de cuò: Jīnxīng de wǔmèng rénshēng" - 挑戰上帝的錯：金星的舞夢人生 (Challenging God's Mistakes: Venus' Dancing Life), published by Jin Xing in 2004.
Jin Xing (Chinese: 金星; pinyin: Jīn Xīng) was born in 1967 in Shenyang, China, to an ethnic Korean family. She is a Chinese ballerina, modern dancer, choreographer, actress, founder, and artistic director of the contemporary dance company Shanghai.
In addition, she is a transgender celebrity and icon of the Chinese transgender community. This unusual memoir describes how China's foremost male ballet dancer (and colonel in the People's Army) underwent one of China's first sex-change operations and became the Shanghai Ballet's prima ballerina.
2017,
China,
Greek,
Jin Xing,
"Shanghai Tango" is the English language edition of "Tiǎozhàn shàngdì de cuò: Jīnxīng de wǔmèng rénshēng" - 挑戰上帝的錯：金星的舞夢人生 (Challenging God's Mistakes: Venus' Dancing Life), published by Jin Xing in 2004.
Jin Xing (Chinese: 金星; pinyin: Jīn Xīng) was born in 1967 in Shenyang, China, to an ethnic Korean family. She is a Chinese ballerina, modern dancer, choreographer, actress, founder, and artistic director of the contemporary dance company Shanghai.
In addition, she is a transgender celebrity and icon of the Chinese transgender community. This unusual memoir describes how China's foremost male ballet dancer (and colonel in the People's Army) underwent one of China's first sex-change operations and became the Shanghai Ballet's prima ballerina.
2006,
2008,
China,
English,
Jin Xing,
