During recent years, the “yao’er” culture, which developed within trans sex worker communities in Northeast China, frequently appears in a mainstream discourse permeated with stigma and prejudice. In the film “Magic”, two actresses use humour to talk about trans concepts and to showcase their daily reality. To them, trans is more than a simple term: it is their daily reality, and constitutes an important part of their identity. The leading ladies in “Magic” courageously share their own stories and the stories of their sisters with the public. They introduce the viewers to the little-known world of “yao’er”, showing how they understand and live sexual freedom, sexual diversity, sexual pleasure and multi-partner sexual relationships.
