Transgender History Research on GenderLibshttps://www.genderlibs.org/series/transgender-history-research/Recent content in Transgender History Research on GenderLibsHugoenCopyright © 2024-2026 GenderLibs. All Rights Reserved.Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0700From “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