An 84-year-old calligrapher who started to wear women’s clothes and had hormones to enlarge his breasts four years ago is the oldest known transgender person in China.

Qian Jinfan (钱今凡), of Jiaxing city in Zhejiang province, decided to disclose her secret four years ago, and gave herself the feminine name Yiling (伊玲).

Jinfan said she had wanted to be a woman since the age of three and concealed the secret until turning 80. She successfully deceived her family members, including her wife and son.

“The current me is the real me,” Jinfan said. “The past 80 years covered the real me.”

Jinfan added that she tried to take pills to look more like a woman in the 1960s, but gave up because the drugs didn’t work.

Jinfan married at the age of 54 and has a son.

Jinfan’s relatives, friends and the bureau where she worked before retiring in Foshan, Guangdong province, have been respectful and understanding, she said.

She happily added that her wife does not mind going out with her in women’s clothes.