Liching, or Queen of Auction as fans call her, yesterday admitted she was he 20 years ago.

The popular TV auction hostess, who boasts she at one time sold NT$200 million worth of products in an hour, said she was a boy for the first 20 years of her life.

Born Wu Chung-ming in Chingshui in 1962, Liching underwent surgery to change the sex when he was 22 years old.

Looking every inch like a woman, the man-turned TV hostess married a man 14 years her junior in 2002.

After the surgery, Liching had her sex changed to female in her domiciliary registration. She acquired a new ID card in which, along with her change in sex, she must have changed her registered name.

The TV hostess did not reveal her ID card name.

She worked as a model for quite some time after she had ceased to be a starlet following her loss of a "sweet voice" in a traffic accident.

It was her voice, which is husky now, gave her the chance to become a star of Eastern TV Auction Channel.

Little Dragon, her agent, said the husky voice attracted thousands upon thousands of buyers, making her the top earner for the Eastern TV group.

"You know," Little Dragon said, "she makes much more than Gary Wang."

Gary Wang is president of the Eastern TV group, which owns ETToday cable news network.

How much each of them earns is a secret.

The sales records Liching has made, according to her agent, included 100,000 pairs of underwear in an hour, 700 notebook PCs in 85 minutes, 380 one-carat diamonds in 80 minutes, and 265 vanettes in 65 minutes.

That prompted an Eastern TV spokesman to hastily announce Liching's sex change does not entail a change in her contract.

"The change," the spokesman said, "has nothing to do with her performance."