Strong Chinese Women: Jin Xing Jin Xing 金星 is China’s most celebrated choreographer

Strong Chinese Women: Jin Xing Jin Xing 金星 is China’s most celebrated choreographer and dancer. She is also one of the first few transgender women officially recognised by the Chinese government. Born in 1967 as a male to ethnic Korean parents in Shenyang, Jin studied in a local elementary school. She was praised as highly intelligent and expressed strong enthusiasm in dance performance and at the age of 9, (s)he joined the entertainment troupe of the army. All the performers had to undertake the PLA’s routine training and young Jin struggled with grenades and machine guns, too big and unwieldy for his slight hands and body. The dance classes were equally harsh, with instructors physically contorting the children’s bodies until they were flexible enough. She would later recall, “In western culture, you’d call it complete child abuse. In China, that’s the culture: you want to be the best? You do it.” Jin eventually attained the rank of colonel. Jin experienced transsexual desires early in life, saying she would stay outside during rain, and wish that a lightning strike would turn her body female. In 1987, she went to New York to study modern dance for four years, and then traveled and performed in Europe, before teaching dance in Rome from 1991 to 1993 when she returned to China. She underwent sex reassignment surgery in 1996. Her left leg was paralyzed for a while after the surgery but upon recovery she went to Shanghai to do choreography and train students. At the age of 33 she adopted a son. She now lives with her three adopted children and her German husband.  Jin Xing’s dance works are “startlingly original and provocative”. They include The Imperial Concubine Has Been Drunk for Ages (Guifei zui jiu, an adaptation of a famous Peking opera title) and Cross Border / Crossing the Line (Cong dong dao xi, a co-operation with British pianist Joanna MacGregor). As transgender role model, Jin is an outspoken and inspiring figure who as she says “is always challenging the boundaries of Chinese society.” With 350,000 fans on Sina Weibo-blog, and an array of regular TV gigs, she’s also a national celebrity, and a symbol of the diversification of popular culture in contemporary China. For those further interested in Jin Xing, get ready for a real treat in this interview which shows what powerful personality she is. The Guardian also has a good direct talk with her in this article entitled From Chinese Army Officer to Dancing TV Stardom. -- source link

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