The first Chinese woman to have a sex change operation tied the knot Tuesday and received a marriage certificate from the government, the Xi'an Evening Posts reported.

The 29-year-old, identified only as A-gang, was married to Xiaoli in a ceremony in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province on Tuesday.

The couple have been living together since 2001 but could only wed after A-gang had a successful sex change operation in the first half year of 2003 and got his identity card changed in July.

Explaining his decision for a sex change, A-Gang said that he had felt like a man trapped in a woman's body since his youth.

He said: "From an early age, whenever I entered a women's toilet, a feeling of shame struck me. And I panicked when beginning to menstruate at the age of 14. My mother told me it was inevitable for a woman, but to me, it was the start of a nightmare."

At the age of 17, he left his home in Neijiang, Sichuan, when people started gossiping about his sexual orientation.

In 1991, he met Xiaoli, also from Neijiang, for the first time, but they lost touch and met again only in 1996, both feeling they have a lot of words to say to each other. But soon Xiaoli got married soon under her parents' arrangement and had a baby.

2001 was a turning point for them when Xiaoli got divorced. A-gang expressed his love for her and their romance started. Soon they began to live together in Chengdu.

But Xiaoli's parents violently opposed their relationship and even locked her up when she returned home to visit them last February. She managed to escape and the couple returned to Chengdu.

Then, with the help of a correspondent, A-gang went for a sex change operation at a Shenzhen hospital in April. The operation was a success and he was discharged from the hospital on May 31. Then he applied for a gender change on his identity card and residence record and got the approval several days later. He waved the card to Xiaoli, saying "I am your man now."

When asked what in A-gang attracted her, Xiaoli replied: "He is frank, capable and considerate. Maybe it is fate that pushes us together. I am destined to be his wife."

(Xinhua News Agency January 3, 2004)