Chen Lili
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Chen Lili (or Lili Chen), (born February, 1980) is a transsexual woman from China, who made headlines when she was denied participation at the Miss World China contest.
Born Chen Yongjun, she was raised by a poor family. Lili enjoyed dressing up as a girl from a very young age.
In November of 2003, she had sex reassignment surgery, and in February of 2004, she received her I.D., officially identifying her as a female. This made her a candidate to participate at the Miss China World contest, which she became encouraged to take part of.
Although the Miss World committee announced on February 23 that she would be allowed to participate, on February 25, they retracted from their original decision, stating that she would not be allowed to participate because of her condition as a transsexual.
It is believed that Lili is the first transsexual woman to attempt to compete at the Miss World contest.