The Chinese Spy Who Pretended to Be a Woman

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A Beijing opera singer and a French embassy worker fall in love in one of the strangest cases in international espionage history.

But the man who fell in love with her claimed he was a man, not a woman. He was a spy.

Shi Pei Pu

The story of a Chinese opera singer who masqueraded as a woman and captivated a French diplomat in an epic love affair that spanned decades has become an international scandal. It has inspired both a Tony Award-winning play and a movie, and it offers a window into the complicated world of espionage and the way political climates can shape personal relationships.

In 1964, a chance meeting in Beijing brought Shi Pei Pu into contact with Bernard Boursicot, an employee of the French Embassy in China. The pair met socially and began a sexual relationship that lasted 20 years. During this time, Shi convinced Boursicot that she was a woman, and he unwittingly divulged classified information to her in the course of their affair.

During their long-distance relationship, Shi adapted to life in France by performing in theaters and on television programs. She also forged close ties with a French-Chinese family, and she believed that their son, Du Du, was her biological child. Shi and Boursicot even lied to the authorities to keep their love affair secret.

But eventually the truth came out, and in 1983, both were arrested for espionage. It was revealed that Shi had been a man all along, and Boursicot was devastated by the betrayal.

The pair were sentenced to six years in prison, but Boursicot was pardoned shortly thereafter. While the details of the case are classified, it is known that the pair gathered sensitive intelligence on the Soviet invasion of Mongolia and on political developments in China. It is also known that Boursicot and Shi had a deep emotional bond, which they often expressed in private letters.

After their release, both Boursicot and Shi continued to use male pronouns, though they did not reveal that their relationship was a cover for a sexual liaison with a spy. Shi died in 2009 at the age of 70, and Boursicot is still alive and well, and he says that his former lover is now living in Paris with her three young sons. Their complex tale offers a reminder that the real-life world of espionage is far from the stereotypical cloak-and-dagger world depicted in films like M. Butterfly.

Bernard Boursicot

In 1986, the story of a Beijing opera singer who convinced her lover that she was a woman became one of the most famous cases in international espionage. It inspired the Broadway show M. Butterfly and captivated audiences worldwide. But there’s more to the story than meets the eye.

In 1964, Bernard Boursicot was a French civil servant working at the French Embassy in Beijing. He met an attractive opera singer at a Christmas party and hit it off immediately. Over the next 18 years, they had a secret affair.

But the pair’s relationship was more than just sexual. Shi also supplied the Chinese government with information about France’s embassies in Moscow and Washington – important information during the Cold War. They shared sensitive information that would be impossible for the Chinese to obtain independently.

When the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, it made it harder for Boursicot to visit Shi and maintain their relationship. But he continued to supply them with documents, first from the embassy in Beijing and then later from his posting at the consulate in Ulan Bator, Mongolia.

The couple were arrested when the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire, a French government agency, realised that they had been providing secrets to the Chinese. They were both convicted of spying and sentenced to six years in prison, although they were pardoned a year later.

During their time in jail, both Boursicot and Shi continued to pretend that they were women. Boursicot wore a wig and lipstick and was referred to as “Miss Butterfly” by staff. Shi also wore men’s clothing and was given a male name, Thierry Toulet. In a letter to his wife, Boursicot described how he felt “like a woman and a man simultaneously.”

Shi died in Paris in 2009 and Bouriscot is now in a nursing home. They both left behind a legacy of art and controversy. Their fanciful tale of love and treachery became one of the most bizarre cases in history. Its enduring popularity has made it a staple of both the history books and pop culture.

Espionage

Espionage is the act of obtaining military, political, commercial, or other secret information by means of spies and secret agents. It differs from the broader category of intelligence gathering in that it is more aggressive and illegal, and in most cases involves the acquisition of proprietary economic information rather than military or strategic data.

A spy is a person hired by one country to gather information on another. Depending on the nature of the information sought, espionage can take many forms, including clandestine meetings with people who have access to the desired data; the unauthorized transmission of classified information to foreign governments or entities (see this Just Security series on Five Eyes); a false flag assignment disrupting a competitor’s operations; and the use of encryption to conceal communication.

Cyber espionage is also a growing problem. Hackers may be motivated by financial incentives, political ideology (hacktivism), or a desire to draw attention to social injustices and other political causes. Some are members of state-sponsored hacker groups, such as Fancy Bear (APT28, Sofacy), which has targeted U.S. political organizations and European military organizations since at least 2008.

Fancy Bear and other cyber espionage attacks often use Word documents containing training-related themes or altered images and videos to deliver malicious files that can exploit vulnerabilities in software and devices. CrowdStrike recently identified a new China-based threat group, GOBLIN PANDA (APT27), which uses similar methods to steal sensitive information from victims in multiple sectors around the world.

In addition, the theft of intellectual property through industrial espionage is a significant economic issue for some countries. According to estimates by the United States Chamber of Commerce, foreign companies are estimated to lose $100 billion in annual revenues due to theft of trade secrets.

As such, it’s not surprising that a large percentage of the web criminality we see at CrowdStrike involves attacks on intellectual property or industrial espionage. But, the question of whether it is morally and strategically justifiable to engage in such activities remains open to debate.

Drama

A drama is a serious play or work that is performed in a theater or on radio or television. It also refers to something exciting or distressing that happens in real life. To analyze a drama, you should look closely at its themes and characters. You should also consider its historical and societal contexts. You may also want to compare it with other works by the same author or in the same genre. Finally, you should reflect on your own emotional and intellectual responses to the drama.