Medical History on GenderLibshttps://www.genderlibs.org/tags/medical-history/Recent content in Medical History on GenderLibsHugoenCopyright © 2024-2026 GenderLibs. All Rights Reserved.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:00:00 -0700From Confidential Surgery to Woman’s Dream: How Zhang Kesha’s Public Narrative Took Shape, 1983–2003https://www.genderlibs.org/blog/2026/09/zhang-kesha-public-narrative-history/Sat, 12 Sep 2026 09:00:00 -0700https://www.genderlibs.org/blog/2026/09/zhang-kesha-public-narrative-history/Abstract On January 10, 1983, Zhang Kesha underwent surgery in the plastic-surgery service of the Third Hospital of Beijing Medical College. A 2026 institutional retrospective from Peking University Third Hospital describes the procedure as China’s first male-to-female gender-reassignment operation and emphasizes the strict confidentiality surrounding the case. Twenty years later, in 2003, Zhang appeared under her own name in reports by Xinhua, Southern MetropolisFrom “Bianxing Ren” to “Transgender”: Four Naming Regimes in Mainland China, 1980–2025https://www.genderlibs.org/blog/2026/08/transgender-vocabulary-stratigraphy/Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700https://www.genderlibs.org/blog/2026/08/transgender-vocabulary-stratigraphy/Abstract Over the last four decades, public language for gender transition, transgender identity, and gender diversity in mainland China has accumulated through several institutional channels. State newspapers since the 1980s placed gender nonconformity within medical, social, and governance frames. In the 1990s, bianxing ren (变性人, literally a person who has “changed sex”) became highly visible