PERSPECTIVE: Chang Yung-yun has stirred controversy for taking young girls climbing without their parents’ consent, but supporters said the girls went on their own free will

Taipei Times
Date: May 16, 2019
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

The Taichung branch of the Taiwan High Court yesterday gave transgender cosplayer and mountain climber Chang Yung-yun (張詠芸) a three-year suspended sentence for abducting an underaged girl in 2017, when they spent more than a month in the mountains.

Chang, now 21, is well-known in the nation’s mountain climbing community, earning praise for her skills, physical endurance, outdoor survival instincts and independent spirit.

She is also famous as a cosplayer, adopting and assuming many video game and anime cartoon characters.

Chang was born a boy, named Chun-yu (張峻瑜), who felt trapped in a man’s body. When he turned 18, he had a sex-change operation and legally changed his gender and adopted a female name.    [FULL  STORY]