A Chinese Opera Singer Who Pretended to Be a Woman Entangled Love and Spying For Decades

A Chinese opera singer who pretended to be a woman captivated and deceived French diplomat Bernard Boursicot. Their relationship entangled love and spying for decades. Their story also inspired a Broadway play and film.

Boursicot exchanged embassy documents for romance with Shi, who called him “Butterfly.” But their relationship ended when French intelligence agents caught them spying in 1983.

He was a Chinese opera singer

China’s top spy agency has produced a slick video to mark National Security Education Day, delivering a stern message for the country: foreign spies are everywhere. With ominous music playing, the video shows a man in disguise as a street fashion photographer, a lab technician and even a businessman to glean sensitive state secrets. He then is caught by police in a dramatic ambush. The video does not explicitly name a foreign country, but experts say it is the United States.

China is known for its espionage operations, and its ability to steal trade secrets from global businesses. But this is the first time it has openly displayed a specific case to illustrate what it considers an ongoing threat. It comes a year after lawmakers passed a broad update to the nation’s anti-espionage laws, which unnerved some foreign businesses and investors.

The video, which was posted on a popular social media site, is part of a campaign to promote the MSS’s success in combating foreign espionage. In addition to the video, an announcer read a statement in which the MSS said it would work “to create sharp weapons” under the law to combat foreign spies.

It is unclear whether the video was in response to a specific incident or whether the announcement of an ongoing effort to combat foreign spies is a general policy shift by Beijing. But critics say the government’s public outreach efforts may backfire. A Chinese blogger, for example, caused a diplomatic row last year when she posted on a popular Instagram-like platform that her boyfriend was unable to sing the national anthem correctly. The blogger later claimed she was encouraged to call the MSS’s hotline and report him as a suspected spy.

Eric, who has not been named for fear of retaliation from his former handlers, says he had no choice but to carry out his assignments. He was ordered to infiltrate pro-democracy activists and hunt down dissidents living abroad – dissidents that the secret police considered dangerous to its future China policy. In the process, he says, he saw his friends die and was eventually killed himself while kayaking on a cold autumn night in Canada.

He was a French diplomat

China’s state security agency has stepped out of the shadows in recent years, as President Xi Jinping makes national security a top priority. It has opened its first public point of contact, a hotline and website for citizens to report suspected spying. It has also rolled out propaganda and social media campaigns, including a popular cartoon series that features secret police hunting down foreign agents.

But catching Chinese intelligence officers has proved difficult for Western services like MI6 and the CIA. China’s pervasive surveillance — including facial recognition software and digital tracking — makes collecting human intelligence inside the country nearly impossible. This has made it easier for Chinese agencies to spy on the West, experts say.

Edwin’s case is emblematic of the growing reach of Chinese espionage. It’s the latest in a long string of cases, ranging from the 2014 hacking of the Office of Personnel Management to the attempted theft of trade secrets by a former employee of Broadcom.

While the US and European governments have been urging companies to be more vigilant against Chinese espionage, many are still reluctant to act. Many feel that reporting the activity could hurt their economic interests in the country, or even lead to retaliation by Beijing. But some are beginning to crack down.

In April 2020, Eric’s handler contacted him and asked him to collect information on a high-profile target: Hua Yong, an anti-government activist who staged a protest of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 2012. He had documented the government’s repression of migrant workers, as well as the construction of the massive Tiananmen Motherland Wall in 2013.

Eric says his handler told him that Hua would be leaving soon. So he began monitoring his movements, filing detailed reports to his handler. He reported on his work, his home address, who he met with and where he went. He was rewarded for his efforts with a bonus.

He was convicted of espionage

A former CIA contractor has been convicted of spying for China. He is expected to serve 10 years in prison. The man, whose name was not released, admitted to passing classified documents to the Chinese government for more than a decade. His alleged accomplice, a Chinese citizen living in the US, was also convicted of spying for China. The pair were alleged to be passing information on a wide range of topics, including nuclear technology and aerospace technologies.

The FBI’s Cincinnati division led the investigation. It was a joint effort with Belgian law enforcement officials, who “provided significant assistance in securing his arrest and facilitating his extradition from Belgium,” according to the Department of Justice.

In addition to stealing trade secrets, the suspects allegedly attempted to infiltrate the US defense industry. The men reportedly worked for aerospace companies, and their targets included Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. They stole information related to military aircraft and missile systems.

The suspects allegedly tried to gain access to the sensitive information by recruiting employees, using social media platforms, and visiting companies’ offices. They also attempted to sell the information to Chinese military personnel, officials said.

The case against the two is part of an ongoing FBI probe into China’s attempt to acquire critical national security information. The FBI is concerned that the information could be used to inflict damage on the US economy and the military.

Last year, the FBI indicted four Chinese intelligence officers and hackers for committing economic espionage against US businesses. The hackers targeted companies in the aerospace, semiconductor, and medical industries. They also stole data on virtual currencies and telecommunications hardware.

The US and China are engaged in a high-stakes game of spying and counterintelligence. The US has long been concerned about China’s attempts to steal military and commercial secrets. The US has begun to implement new regulations to protect its intellectual property, and the FBI is increasing its presence in China. It is working closely with a number of Chinese agencies to protect US interests. The agency is also looking to hire more staff in Europe and Asia to combat Chinese cybercrime.

He died

In a slick video marking National Security Education Day, China’s top spy agency has a stern message for the public: foreign spies are everywhere. As ominous music plays, the video shows a broad-faced, beady-eyed man disguises as a street fashion photographer, a lab technician, a businessman and even a food delivery driver to glean sensitive state secrets in various places and industries. Eventually, the spy is caught in a dramatic ambush after state security authorities receive multiple tip-offs from the public. The story is the latest in a series of high-profile cases involving alleged Chinese spying overseas.

The most famous is the case of Shi Pei Pu, a Chinese operatic soprano and French diplomat convicted of spying for Beijing in 1986. Their complicated affair inspired the 1988 Broadway play M. Butterfly, which later became a blockbuster movie starring Jeremy Irons and John Lone. Shi and Bouriscot were sentenced to six years in prison, but both were pardoned in 1987. Shi died in 2009, while Bouriscot is reportedly in a nursing home.

Unlike most Chinese spy stories, Shi and Bourisicot’s relationship was romantic, with Shi going to extraordinary lengths to hide his sex. He told Boursicot that he was a woman forced to dress as a man for his parents’ strong desire to have a son. Bourisicot was smitten by Shi and accepted the story. The couple kept their relationship long-distance, which limited their sexual contact and helped Shi maintain his ruse.

After Boursicot left the French embassy in 1972, he continued to supply information to the Chinese through 1977 when he took up a position in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator. However, the ruse was exposed in 1983 when French government agency the Direction de la Surveillance du territoire discovered the pair’s secret relationship and uncovered Bouriscot’s supply of documents to Shi.

A recent incident in Melbourne highlights the extreme lengths that the MSS will go to ensnare its targets. A blogger on the social media platform Xiaohongshu caused a stir by calling the hotline of the Chinese police to report her boyfriend for not knowing the lyrics or tunes to China’s national anthem. She was criticized by commentators for doing so, but she told Four Corners that she felt her boyfriend had been harassed and threatened.