May 31 2024
The term ‘transgender’ is a modern concept. Only in the last thirty years or so has it gained wide-ranging acceptance, but this is where the name and the lived reality part ways. Transgender people by different names have been around for all time, including in imperial China.
Matthew Sommer is a professor of history at Stanford University and has scoured court records in China to uncover trans-people who, despite the hardships for many, were able to find a place in Chinese society. He details their stories in his new book, ‘The Fox Spirit, The Stone Maiden and Other Transgender Histories From Late Imperial China’,
The post China: transgender histories from late imperial China appeared first on World Wide Wave.