Jin Xing (; born August 13, 1967) is a Chinese

ballerina A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on ye ...

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who c ...

, actress, founder and artistic director of the contemporary dance company Shanghai. She is a transgender celebrity.

Early life

Jin was born in 1967 in Shenyang, China, to an ethnic Korean family ( Chosŏnjok). Jin studied in a local Chosonjok-Chinese elementary school. Her mother was a translator, and her father was a military intelligence officer. She was noted for her intelligence, and had won

abacus The abacus (''plural'' abaci or abacuses), also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool which has been used since ancient times. It was used in the ancient Near East, Europe, China, and Russia, centuries before the adoption of the Hi ...

contests many times. She was very enthusiastic about dance performance. At age 9, she joined the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the China, People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five Military branch, service branches: the People's ...

to receive dance and military training from a troupe affiliated with the

Shenyang Military Region The Shenyang Military Region was one of seven military regions for the Chinese People's Liberation Army. It has command and control of military and armed police forces in the three northeast provinces of Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Liaoning, w ...

. At age 12, she transferred to the People's Liberation Army Art Academy, graduating in 1984. After graduation, she returned to the Shenyang military dance troupe, eventually attained the rank of colonel. She later won the national dance contest with a Central Asian ethnic dance piece. She won a scholarship to dance in New York. In 1989, Jin went to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

to study

for four years, studying under modern dance pioneers such as Limon, Cunningham, and Graham.

Career

Dance

Following her studies, Jin traveled and performed in Europe, and taught dance in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, followed by a world tour, and returned to China in 1993. She underwent

sex reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and a ...

in 1995. Her left leg was paralyzed for three months after the surgery. In 1999, she opened her dance troupe, Jin Xing Dance Theatre. Jin's dancing works are described by the ''Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture'' as "startlingly original and provocative." These include ''The Imperial Concubine Has Been Drunk for Ages'' (''Guifei zui jiu'', an adaptation of the famous

Peking opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognize ...

title) and ''Cross Border–Crossing the Line'' (''Cong dong dao xi'', a collaboration with British pianist Joanna MacGregor).

Film and television

Her film debut was in the Korean movie ''

Resurrection of the Little Match Girl ''Resurrection of the Little Match Girl'' () is a 2002 South Korean action film. It was screened at the 2003 London Film Festival and was the opening film of the Fantasia Festival that same year. The film was inspired by the 1845 Hans Christian A ...

'' in 2002. In 2005, she appeared in the

Thai movie The cinema of Thailand dates back to the early days of filmmaking, when King Chulalongkorn's 1897 visit to Bern, Switzerland was recorded by François-Henri Lavancy-Clarke. The film was then brought to Bangkok, where it was exhibited. This spark ...

Tom-Yum-Goong ''Tom-Yum-Goong'' ( Thai: ต้มยำกุ้ง, ) is a 2005 Thai martial arts action film starring Tony Jaa. The film was directed by Prachya Pinkaew, who also directed Jaa's prior breakout film '' Ong-Bak''. As with ''Ong-Bak'', the figh ...

'' as the villain Madam Rose. In 2013, she began her television career as a judge on China's first season of ''

So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and ha ...

''. Jin went viral when she scathingly commented on the show's host's attempt to turn a contestant's injury into a sob story. She stated, "Chinese TV always digs at people's scars, consumes their pain. This is the biggest weakness of Chinese TV and I hate it! I hope that on 'So You Think You Can Dance' we won't use people's pain, we won't use people's sympathy, we won't use people's suffering." Audiences appreciated her raw honesty, and nine months later she had her own nationally broadcast show. Jin hosted her own television chat show ''

The Jin Xing Show ''The Jin Xing Show'' is a Chinese variety show hosted by Jin Xing Jin Xing (; born August 13, 1967) is a Chinese ballerina, modern dancer, choreographer, actress, founder and artistic director of the contemporary dance company Shanghai. She i ...

'' on

Dragon TV Shanghai Dragon Television or Dragon TV () is a provincial satellite TV station. It launched in October 1998 as "Shanghai Television Shanghai Television () is a TV station based in Shanghai, China China, officially the People's Republic ...

between 2015 and 2017. In 2016, she began hosting the dating show ''

Chinese Dating with the Parents Zhong Guo Shi Xiang Qin (), known in English as ''Chinese Dating with the Parents'') is a Chinese companion dating show, it is made and broadcast on Dragon Television in China and is currently hosted by Zhang Guoli and Chen Chen. The program wa ...

'', where parents decide on a prospective wife for their sons. The show received criticism for portraying a conservative view on marriage and the role of women in the family. According to Vivian Wang and Joy Dong of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Jin "bristles at being called a conservative. If she were a male chauvinist, she said, she would have continued living as a man." She has also advocated against gender discrimination in employment. Jin and her husband were contestants on ''

The Amazing Race China 3 ''The Amazing Race China 3'' () is the third instalment of the Chinese reality television series '' The Amazing Race China'' () (Previously known as ''The Amazing Race''). Based on the American reality TV series ''The Amazing Race'', it features ...

'' in 2016, where they finished 6th.

Other work

She participated in the

Stock Exchange of Visions {{Unreferenced, date=August 2007 The Stock Exchange of Visions is a project initiated in 2006 by Fabrica, Benetton's research center. It gathers visionaries from diverse nationalities and cultures, who hail from a wide range of specialties, to prov ...

project in 2007. In May 2021, she appeared in an advertising campaign for

Dior Christian Dior SE (), commonly known as Dior (stylized DIOR), is a French luxury fashion house controlled and chaired by French businessman Bernard Arnault, who also heads LVMH, the world's largest luxury group. Dior itself holds 42.36% shar ...

to promote the empowerment and independence of women. In March 2022, Jin shared a post on

Sina Weibo Sina Weibo (新浪微博) is a Chinese microblogging (weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily ac ...

where she criticised

President of Russia The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federa ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

for launching military invasion into Ukraine. The post was taken down by Chinese censors.

Personal life

When Jin was six years old, she went outside during a storm, hoping that "lightning would strike and transform her into a girl". She underwent sex reassignment surgery in 1995 in Beijing. Jin has adopted 3 children. At the age of 33, Jin adopted a son and then two other children she raised by herself until her marriage in 2005. She married her German husband Heinz Gerd Oidtmann in 2005. She currently lives with her husband and children in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

. In addition to her native Chinese, she can speak English, Korean, Japanese, Italian, and French.

Recognition

She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2017.

Filmography

* ''

'' (2002) * ''

'' (2005) * ''

Birth of the Dragon ''Birth of the Dragon'' is a 2016 American martial arts action film directed by George Nolfi and written by Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen J. Rivele. The film stars Philip Ng, Xia Yu, and Billy Magnussen. The film is a fictional account on t ...

'' (2016)

References

External links

*
Jin Xing: China's transgender TV star
An interview by BBC News. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jin, Xing 1967 births Living people Chinese ballerinas Transgender military personnel People's Republic of China LGBT people Modern dancers Actresses from Shenyang Chinese people of Korean descent Transgender actresses Transgender women Actresses from Liaoning Chinese film actresses Chinese television talk show hosts BBC 100 Women The Amazing Race contestants