Transgender people in Taiwan and mainland China

Temps de lecture : 10 minutes

Transgender people in Taiwan and mainland China

21.01.2021

Dylan GUEFFIER

In 2017, an (anonymous) transgender man working in a clinic in the southern Chinese city of Guiyang won his lawsuit after being fired for his appearance despite the court’s refusal to use the term discrimination^[1]Benjamin Haas, Chinese transgender man wins landmark wrongful dismissal case, The Guardian, 2017, available on : … Continue reading. On the other side of the Taiwanese Strait, the Taiwanese Parliament enacted the Long-Term Care Services Act of 2017 protecting minorities, including transgender people, from discrimination^[2]Laws & regulations database of the Republic of China, Long-Term Care Services Act, available on: https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=L0070040 in the medical field. While these two events represent significant progress at the level of both entities, the daily lives of transgender people in Taiwan and mainland China remain more complex, despite the reputations of Eldorado for sexual minorities in the one case and the repressive system in the other.

Legal and political situation

If the presence of Audrey Tang, a transgender person and minister for digital since 2016 in the Tsai administration, is a first in Asia, the situation of transgender people in Taiwan could still be improved. At the legal level, transgender people, if they wish to be able to change their civil status, must undergo sex reassignment surgery, consult psychiatrists and have their parents’ approval^[3]Tamsin Wu, What it’s like to be trans in Taiwan, Outrage, 2018, available on: https://outragemag.com/what-its-like-to-be-trans-in-taiwan/. The government of Ma Ying-Jeou (2008-2016) had promised, in 2014, to remove this obstacle, but to date, the situation has still yet to change^[4]Queer in the world, LGBT rights in Taiwan : what travellers should know before going [part 1], Taiwan Insight, June 2019, available on: … Continue reading. It is nevertheless important to point out that in 2018 the Taiwanese government has announced that it is working on the adoption of a third type for official documents such as passports^[5]Sophia Yang, Taiwan mulls a third gender option on national ID cards, passports, Taiwan news, 2018, available on: https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3334142. A law called the Gender Equity Education Act, enacted in 2004^[6]Laws & regulations database of the Republic of China, Gender Equity Education Act, available at : https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=H0080067, was strengthened in 2019^[7]Laws & regulations database of the Republic of China, Enforcement Rules for the Gender Equity Education Act, 2019, available at: https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=H0080068 by stipulating that all forms of discrimination based on gender identity are prohibited. While this anti-discrimination law is one of the first of its kind in Asia, it is still important to note the lack of protection in the work sphere for transgender people. This leads to a precarious financial situation for the people concerned, as they have difficulty getting hired and earning a decent wage^[8]Tamsin Wu, What it’s like to be trans in Taiwan, Outrage, 2018, available at: https://outragemag.com/what-its-like-to-be-trans-in-taiwan/.

In mainland China, being transgender is still considered a mental illness (Chinese classification of Mental Disorders 3)^[9]Yuanyuan Wang ; Zhishan Hu ; Ke Peng ; Ying Xin ; Yuan Yang ; Jack Drescher ; Runsen Chen, Discrimination against LGBT populations in China, The Lancet, 2019, available at: … Continue reading. Obstacles, such as the lack of statistics, do not provide clear information. However, according to a 2014 report published by Asia Catalyst, the number of transgender people in mainland China is estimated to be around 4 million^[10]Asia Catalyst, “My life is too dark to see the light” A survey of the Living Conditions of Transgender Female Sex workers in Beijing and Shanghai, 2015, available at: … Continue reading. Gender changes on official documents are therefore only allowed if the person concerned undergoes a gender reassignment operation preceded by psychotherapy , then has the change validated by the courts on the basis of a document issued by the hospital^[11]UNDP ; China Women’s University, Legal gender recognition in China : A legal and policy review, 2018, available at: UNDP-CH-Legal%20gender%20recognition%20-%20China%20180805.pdf. To be able to carry out this operation, the person must also have their family’s approval^[12]Karen McVeigh, China ‘failing trans people’ as young attempt surgery on themselves – study, The Guardian, 2019, available at: … Continue reading. The lack of recognition of transgender identities in the medical world makes access to hormone treatment or surgery almost impossible. Too little information leads some transgender people obtaining dubious drugs on the black market and operating on themselves, posing a serious danger to their health^[13]Amnesty International, Chine. Des personnes transgenres risquent leur vie en s’opérant elles-mêmes, 2019, available at: … Continue reading.

In the work sphere, most companies are places where discrimination is common, starting with hiring. Theoretically, people looking for work should not be discriminated against on the basis of their gender. However, current laws do not mention the terms “gender expression” or “gender identity”^[14]UNDP ; China Women’s University, Legal gender recognition in China : A legal and policy review, 2018, available at : UNDP-CH-Legal%20gender%20recognition%20-%20China%20180805.pdf. This legal vagueness allows for discrimination in the workplace. Nevertheless, it is important to note recent developments such as the fact that the Chinese courts ruled in favour of a transgender woman who was dismissed by the Dangdang company for taking two months off work to undergo sexual reassignment surgery^[15]Jo Kim, Can China Use LGBTQ Rights to Bolster Its Human Rights Reputation ?, The Diplomat, 2020, a vailable at: … Continue reading. On an international level, the Chinese government has responded favourably to the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Council regarding the rights of people belonging to the LGBT community, including the promise to enact anti-discrimination laws^[16]Michael Taylor, China urged to take action on LGBT+ rights after backing U.N. changes, Reuters, 2019, available at: … Continue reading. 

Transgender people in society

Although the acceptance of transgender people is far more advanced in Taiwan compared to other Asian countries, transgender people living there still face discrimination. For instance, 37.3% of transgender persons surveyed by the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights report being or having been discriminated against in the workplace^[17]Sherry Hsiao, Survey highlights challenges facing transgender people, Taipei Times, 2020, available at: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/04/01/2003733781. Chinese and Confucian culture adds further pressure to the problems of recognition and acceptance of transgender people by Taiwanese society.

For example, transgender people in Taiwan are victims of abuse within their own families where some are beaten and others deprived of their savings to pay for a sexual reassignment operation^[18]Olivia Yang, Why Seven out of Ten Transgender Taiwanese Consider Suicide, The News Lens, 2017, available at: https://international.thenewslens.com/article/73246. Outside the family home, transgender people also report that they are afraid to use public toilets, sometimes to the extent of causing themselves health problems, or to ask for help from law enforcement^[19]Sherry Hsiao, Survey highlights challenges facing transgender people, Taipei Times, 2020, available at: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/04/01/2003733781.

The difficulties that transgender people experience in society have dramatic consequences on their mental health: depression and suicidal thoughts, right up to the point of doing it. A survey carried out by the Intersex, Transgender and Transsexual People Care Association (ISTScare) in 2014 shows that 70% of those surveyed have thought about suicide or have attempted it^[20]Olivia Yang, Why Seven out of Ten Transgender Taiwanese Consider Suicide, The News Lens, 2017, available at : https://international.thenewslens.com/article/73246. This phenomenon, although still relevant today, is not recent: a leading Taiwanese transgender activist, Tsai Ya-Ting, committed suicide herself in 2003^[21]Josephine Ho, The Woman under the Burial Quilt – Death of a Trans Warrior, Center for the Study of Sexualities, National Central University of Taiwan, 2005, available at: … Continue reading.

Suicide is still a reality and will remain so as long as the risk of abuse and stigmatisation within the family unit continues. In this regard, it should be noted that in Taiwan, the government and local authorities are making efforts to integrate transgender people. For example, government offices and several schools have chosen to inaugurate gender-neutral toilets, as has Minsheng College^[22]Wendy Lee, Taipei high school  opens first gender-neutral restrooms in Taiwan, Taiwan News, 2016, available at: https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3035022, joined by several other institutions such as the National Taiwan University^[23]The China Post, Taiwan transgender community looking forward to more social acceptance, 2019, available at: https://chinapost.nownews.com/20191026-814454. Some schools, such as Banqiao High School, have decided to give students a choice of uniform regardless of gender^[24]The Straits Times, Taiwan school adopts gender-neutral uniform policy, 2019, available at: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/taiwan-school-adopts-gender-neutral-uniform-policy. This follows a week-long movement by male students and teachers wearing skirts to break gender stereotypes^[25]Livedoor News, 男子生徒の制服スカート着用を許可　男女平等推進=台湾・新北の高校, 2019, available at: https://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/16814084/.

Common cultural bases in mainland China and Taiwan mean that pressure from the family and society in general are as strong in former as they are in the latter. While several celebrities have revealed their transidentity, such as Jin Xing, this is by no means a sign of acceptance of transgender people in Chinese society. The Confucian influence favouring men over women and the appetite for respecting traditional norms gives a very negative perception of transgender people. According to a study carried out in 2017 by China Development Brief, 60% of the transgender people interviewed said they had received no support from their families^[26]China Development Brief, 2017 Chinese Transgender Population General Survey Report, 2017, available at: … Continue reading. Family pressure is such that transgender people who have left home still do not dare to come out or present themselves as they really are^[27]YASUDA Minetoshi, 親も社会も理解がなくて…ある中国人トランスジェンダーの告白, Gendai Business, 2019, available at: https://gendai.ismedia.jp/articles/-/59565?imp=0. Similarly, abuse and violence are common, ranging from physical violence and insults to the curtailment of freedoms, especially economic ones^[28]China Development Brief, 2017 Chinese Transgender Population General Survey Report, 2017, available at : … Continue reading : indeed, some parents do not hesitate to deprive their children of the savings made for an operation.

Rejection is also strongly present in the school environment: where more and more Taiwanese schools are taking steps to facilitate the acceptance of transgender people, only 16.8% of transgender people in mainland China felt accepted by their universities^[29]Asia Catalyst, “My life is too dark to see the light” A survey of the Living Conditions of Transgender Female Sex workers in Beijing and Shanghai, 2015, available at: … Continue reading. 42.5% of Chinese peop
le think that transgender people suffer from some form of mental illness, figures much higher than in France (15.7%) or neighbouring Japan (20.5%)^[30]Andrew R. Flores, Taylor N. T. Brown, Andrew S. Park, Public support for Transgender Rights : A Twenty-three Country Survey, The William Institute, 2016, available at: … Continue reading.

The influence of Confucianism can be seen in the society’s view of the place of transgender people at the cultural level. 36.7% of respondents believe that transgender people transgress traditions and culture, while the figure was 16.8% in France and 9.1% in Japan^[31]Andrew R. Flores, Taylor N. T. Brown, Andrew S. Park, Public support for Transgender Rights : A Twenty-three Country Survey, The William Institute, 2016, available at: … Continue reading. Although in general there are economic disparities between China’s cities and rural areas, it would seem that transgender people are equally rejected throughout the country^[32]Yuanyuan Wang, Zhishan Hu, Ke Peng, Joanne Rechdan, Yuan Yang, Lijuan Wu, Jiahui Lin, Zhizhou Duan, Xuequan Zhu, Yi Feng, Shitao Chen, Jianjun Ou, Runsen Chen, Mapping out a spectrum of the Chinese … Continue reading.

Any improvements?

In spite of all the difficulties encountered by Taiwanese transgender people, it should be pointed out that much progress can be noted. This is due in particular to the various associations protecting the rights of transgender people. The G/Srat (Gender/Sexuality Rights Association Taiwan)^[33]Organisation website: http://gsrat.net/about/ourstand.php, founded in 1999 and very active in the 2000s, defends the rights of people belonging to the LGBT community in general and organises several conferences and events to promote the rights of transgender people. In particular, G/Srat was in contact with Tsai Ya-Ting’s family after her suicide to ensure that her last wishes were respected^[34]Josephine Ho, The Woman under the Burial Quilt – Death of a Trans Warrior, Center for the Study of Sexualities, National Central University of Taiwan, 2005, available at : … Continue reading. Unfortunately, it seems to be less active today, as its website shows, with the latest “recent events” dating back to 2013.

Among the more active associations today is the Taïwan Tongzhi Hotline Association^[35]Organisation website: https://hotline.org.tw/, founded in 1998. It offers a telephone helpline for people from the LGBT community, support for parents to better understand their children’s needs regarding gender and sexuality, as well as interventions in schools and exhibitions to raise public awareness of gender and sexuality issues^[36]https://hotline.org.tw/english/208. On 30 October 2020, the association organised, for the second time, a march for transgender people in Taiwan with the aim of bringing the situation and difficulties of transgender people to the general public^[37]https://hotline.org.tw/english/3015.

Specifically focused on transgender people, the Taiwan TG Butterfly Garden association was founded in 2000.  Its mission is to promote the rights of transgender people in Taiwan. Finally, there is the above-mentioned ISTS Care^[38]ISTS Care website: https://www.istscare.org/ founded in 2009, which accompanies transgender people in their efforts to change their gender and produces surveys on the situation of transgender people in order to alert the population to the difficulties experienced by transgender people. The association also has a self-help group to facilitate transgender people’s access to employment.

While Taiwanese organisations can freely advocate for the rights of transgender people, the situation in mainland China is quite different. Some provinces have produced lists of associations deemed illegal and therefore banned. Guangdong Province in 2019, for example, declared two associations protecting the rights of people belonging to the LGBT community illegal for no apparent reason: the Guangzhou University Rainbow Group and the Guangzhou Gender and Sexuality Education Center^[39]OutRight Action International, Activism crackdown in China, 2019, available at : https://outrightinternational.org/content/activism-crackdown-china. This year’s Shanghai Pride, one of the only LGBT events of the year, was cancelled following pressure from the Chinese government^[40]Steven Jiang, ‘End of the Rainbow’: Shanghai Pride shuts down amid shrinking space for China’s LGBTQ community, CNN, 2020, available at: … Continue reading.

In spite of attacks from the authorities, several Chinese associations listen to and advise transgender people. Among them is the Beijing LGBT Center, an NGO created in 2008 to promote the rights of people belonging to the LGBT community. It offers services ranging from lists of psychologists able to deal seriously with gender issues to a telephone service launched in 2015 and extended to the whole country in 2018^[41]China Development Brief, National transgender hotline launched in China, 2018, available at : http://chinadevelopmentbrief.cn/reports/news/national-transgender-hotline-launched-in-china/.

One of the associations still active and not yet targeted by the Chinese government’s repression, the Transgender Resource Center, was founded in 2008 in Hong Kong by Joanne Leung, the first transgender woman to enter politics in Hong Kong, and aims to raise awareness of gender issues among the Chinese population. In addition to the services traditionally offered (information, advice…), the Transgender Resource Center intervenes in the media and collaborates with several government agencies^[42]Transgender Resource Center Website: https://tgr.org.hk/index.php/en/about-us/the-aim-of-transgender-resource-center. It is also a research centre, sometimes working in certain Hong Kong universities such as the Chinese University of Hong Kong or the Hong Kong Polytechnic University^[43]Transgender Resource Center Website: https://tgr.org.hk/index.php/en/about-us/the-aim-of-transgender-resource-center.

It is interesting to note that most LGBT rights groups have their origins in Hong Kong, a more liberal city. Nevertheless, the gradual takeover of the Special Administrative Region by the Chinese government suggests that there is a move towards tighter control over the activities of these associations and that they are being brought up to standard so that they no longer differ from mainstream organisations.

Conclusion

Taiwan and mainland China have a different or even opposite system an
d this clearly has an impact on the situation of transgender people, especially at the political and legal level. However, it is important to note that culturally, both entities face similar problems: violence within the family, difficulties in finding work, etc. It is also important to note that the situation of transgender people in Taiwan and mainland China is very different. While the integration of transgender people into society remains problematic, especially in mainland China, society is changing thanks to the actions of the different associations and the information they distribute. More and more young transgender people are becoming aware of their transidentity and are taking the necessary steps to get out of the hell of their daily lives^[44]AFP, En Chine, les transgenres sortent de l’ombre pour contrer les discriminations, L’express, 2018, available at : … Continue reading (discrimination, depression, suicidal thoughts…). In general, the new generations seem to be more receptive and open to gender issues and therefore less inclined to reject transgender people^[45]Nanlin Fang, Chieu Luu, Chao Xiaomi leads China’s fight for transgender rights, CNN, 2017, available at : https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/china-transgender-activist/index.html. The Internet, even if it is restricted in mainland China, also plays a major role in the formation of local groups. The situation of transgender people tends to improve overall (whether in Taiwan or mainland China) but there is still a long way to go before they can lead a normal life, integrated into society.

To cite this article : Dylan GUEFFIER, “Les personnes transgenres à Taïwan et en Chine continentale”, 21.01.2021, Institut du Genre en Géopolitique.