July 8, 2026

Taiwan’s First Sex Change (1953-1955) – S6-E17 (Not suitable for minors)

NOTE: This is our first episode to be labeled “explicit,” not due to bad language, but because it includes reasonably direct anatomical references. It may be best not to play this aloud when minors are present.

We start with the relatively unknown story of Taiwanese boys condemned to become eunuchs in Emperor Qianlong’s imperial palace, their fate sealed simply because they were the young sons of rebels. We then turn to the first gender affirmation surgery (as it might be called today) performed in Taiwan, way back in the early 1950s, with the remarkable case of soldier Hsieh Chien-shun (謝尖順), the so-called "Chinese Christine."

In 1953, the discovery of Hsieh's medical condition and the ensuing series of operations became front-page news across Taiwan, with newspapers turning a deeply personal matter into a national spectacle. We explore the ethics of the case. Hsieh was reluctant to transition to female and only agreed after considerable pressure, making it much less of an “affirmation.”

Despite the sensational journalism and Cold War nationalism surrounding one of the most unusual episodes in Taiwan's modern history, Hsieh’s ordeal may have foreshadowed the island's later development as one of Asia's most progressive societies on issues of gender and sexuality.

Show Notes

Show notes for “Taiwan’s First Sex Change”

The main source we used – and inspiration for this episode was Howard Chiang’s After Eunuchs: Science, Medicine, and the Transformation of Sex in Modern China (Columbia University Press, 2018/20), in particular Chapter 5).

Listeners might be interested in reading Howard Chiang’s article about Taiwan’s place in global trans history in Taiwan Insight, an online Taiwan Studies magazine from the University of Nottingham. Formosa Files subscribes to this magazine and we find it a useful source for information and episode ideas.

We mentioned a fascinating case of a female couple asking about the right to get married way back in 1958. Eryk came across that story in a recent book: Fear of Queer Taiwan: Anti-LGBTQ Movements Between Taiwan and the U.S. Religious Right by Ying-Chao Kao (NYU Press, 2025).

Christine Jorgensen (May 30, 1926 – May 3, 1989) was an American actress, singer, and transgender activist. A trans woman, she was the first person to become widely known in the United States for having sex reassignment surgery.

Taiwan and marriage equality

Taiwan’s same-sex marriage law was passed by the Legislative Yuan on May 17, 2019, promulgated on May 22, and took effect on May 24, making Taiwan the first place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.

And two years later, there was this milestone: “Xiao E, First trans woman in Taiwan to change her legal gender without providing proof of surgery.” Article here.

Eunuchs

We started the episode with the story of Taiwanese sons of rebels taken from 1780s Taiwan to Beijing to be palace eunuchs. John looked at several academic works on eunuchs but didn’t find anything especially useful for the Taiwan angle. Actually, the Wikipedia entry for the Lin Shuangwen Rebellion of 1787-88 has the best material of all. Hats off to the volunteers at Wiki who do such a great job with the Taiwan history pages. It’s much appreciated. Here’s a short Wikipedia extract from a very long and detailed section on “Punishment” of the rebels and their family members:

“The Qianlong emperor and Heshen ordered that sons of rebel leaders under the age of 15 to be taken to Beijing and castrated by the Imperial Household Department to work as eunuch slaves in the Yuanmingyuan (Summer Palace).^[⁹^]^[¹⁰^]^[¹¹^] The boys who were castrated were aged 4 to 15 years old and 40 of them were named on one memorial. This new policy of castrating sons of killers of 3 or more people and rebels helped solve the supply of young eunuchs for the Qing Summer Palace.^[¹²^]^”