The Story of a Chinese Spy Who Pretended to Be a Woman
The story of a Chinese opera singer who pretended to be a woman fooled a French diplomat is one of the strangest in international spying history. It inspired the 1988 Broadway play M. Butterfly and was adapted into a 1993 movie.
But Four Corners has learned that the case is no laughing matter in China.
Hua Xiaoyu
When a senior Chinese intelligence officer named Hua Xiaoyu, 41, got busted last fall for trying to steal trade secrets from GE Aviation in Cincinnati, federal prosecutors laid out a picture of him that seemed to have never been seen before. Over the course of two weeks in late October and November, they drew on the wealth of digital material the agent had stockpiled to paint an unvarnished portrait of him—his training, methods, ambitions, and vices, as well as private doubts and grievances. It was an unprecedentedly intimate portrait of how China’s economic espionage machine works, and what life is like for its cogs.
During the trial, federal agents played video clips of a 2016 meeting between Hua and Frederic Hascoet, a project manager at Safran Aircraft Engines of France, which makes jet engines for airplanes such as the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320. Xu and a colleague had entered the company’s headquarters with a plan to spy on Hascoet and steal details of an innovative new design for fan blades, which would be used in future aircraft.
Hua and his colleague waited in the lobby of the building, with their names written on two brown envelopes and $7,000. But Hascoet had gone to a nearby restaurant to meet a client. When he returned, his name was not on the list of people waiting for him, and the company’s security guards were alerted. They seized the two men and arrested them on suspicion of espionage.
The two were released shortly afterward, but in their custody they had a 1-terabyte hard drive with a list of questions about the fan blades and a password-protected file containing a spreadsheet with information on the company’s competitors. Xu and his colleague also had two smartphones and several SIM card readers, and a number of empty flash drives.
In a subsequent interview, Xu was able to recall much more about the incident. The investigator pressed him to tell the truth about his visit to Nanjing, and with incremental confessions, he finally did. It was a moment that, in his words, “sucked,” but it was also a moment that revealed the truth of what had happened, and why.
Shi Pei Pu
Despite his diminutive frame, Shi Pei Pu enthralled Europe with his operatic singing and graceful stage presence in the 1960s. Then, in the 1980s, the world of his life imploded on the heels of a series of troubling accusations of espionage and deception. Shi died at a Parisian nursing home in 2009, at the age of 70.
It was in 1964 that Shi first caught the attention of Bernard Boursicot, an employee at the French Embassy in Beijing. At a Christmas party hosted by Claude Chayet, the second-highest official at the embassy, a short, thin Chinese man stood out among the crowd. Shi was there teaching Chinese to one of the Chayet children’s tutors, and he and Boursicot struck up a conversation.
The pair grew close and began an affair that lasted nearly 20 years. In the meantime, Shi adapted well to life in France and continued to perform in theaters and on television programs. He even got a one-year visa extension. But in 1983, the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire, a government security service that audited French influence in Paris, became suspicious and questioned Boursicot and Shi about secret documents provided to them by the Chinese authorities.
Boursicot and Shi insisted that they were merely passing documents back and forth for the benefit of both nations. But in 1986, the couple was convicted of espionage and sentenced to six years in prison. Shi testified that he was a woman, but admitted to police officers that he had male sexual organs and had hidden them behind a dress. He also said that his son, Du Du, was not his biological child but had been sold to him by a poverty-stricken family.
Despite their conviction, both men were freed in 1991 after serving about half their sentences. After their release, Shi continued to use male pronouns and lived as a man until his death in 2009. Although Boursicot was released earlier, he never forgave Shi for the scandalous affair that left him an international laughing stock.
Bernard Boursicot
The complex relationship between Chinese opera singer Shi Pei Pu and French diplomat Bernard Boursicot intertwined deep personal deception with international spying. The affair shaped the political climate of China and inspired a play and a movie, raising questions about gender identity and sexuality.
Boursicot met Shi in 1965 at a reception and was immediately attracted to her beauty. She told him she was a woman who lived as a man because of her parents’ desire to have a son, and he believed her story. He began to meet her often and, eventually, they had sex. But their intimate moments were always rushed and in the dark.
Despite their close intimacy, Boursicot continued to pass documents to the Chinese government through Shi. He worked for the French embassy in Beijing from 1969 to 1972 and then in Mongolia from 1977 to 1979. The Cultural Revolution in China made it difficult to maintain their regular contact, and he moved on to other postings that reduced the frequency of their encounters.
However, the stress of long-distance spying and the strained long-distance romance ultimately led to the breakup of the couple. Boursicot became restless and sought out another male lover, who he called Thierry. He also arranged for Shi and her supposed son, whom she called Bertrand, to emigrate on diplomatic visas to Paris.
In 1982, Boursicot returned to France. During his trial for spying, doctors revealed that Shi had intact male genitalia and that he could hide them during sex. When he asked Shi in prison about their alleged son, she said he was now living with two Chinese men who were “looking after” him.
Hua’s death
Hua grew up in poverty, and her father died at a young age from the effects of the Honkai eruption. This left her alone, with no family or friends to support her. She devoted her life to her studies and her training as a warrior, hoping to be able to take over her father’s dojo and become a karate master. Her hopes were shattered when the Honkai outbreak killed her family and her village.
When she awakened in Kiana, Hua felt a deep sense of loss. She began to question everything, even her identity. She felt that the “old her” had been corrupted by Otto Apocalypse and committed countless crimes. She believed that she should have been a good girl and saved the lives of those who needed it, instead of using them to fuel her own power and glory.
She soon realizes that she can’t continue living in a state of loss and anger, and she decides to change her ways. She tells the Feather that she wants to be herself again and that she is no longer a slave of MEI. The Feather advises her against this, but Hua replies that she will do what she thinks is right.
Later, Hua and the Shadow are traveling through a village that is infested with zombies. As they approach, Hua notices that a little girl is corrupted by Honkai radiation. She asks if she can save her, to which the girl answers that she will be alright.
The Shadow tries to stop Hua, but she claims that it’s the right thing to do. Hua then creates an illusion of the Schicksal HQ during the time that Sirin awoke in Kiana. The illusion reveals that the “old Hua” was obsessed with Otto Apocalypse. The illusion also shows that she had manipulated the world for her own gain.
The Feather asks why Hua created the illusion, to which she replies that it was simply to prove to her that she can control her own powers. The Feather reveals that she had already proven this by destroying Schicksal HQ and crippling World Serpent’s base.
