Bernard Boursicot

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Bernard Boursicot (born 1944) is a French diplomat who was caught in a honeypot trap, by Shi Pei-Pu, a male Peking opera singer, who Bouriscot believed to be female. The affair lasted for twenty years with Shi even producing an alleged son.

Contents

[edit] China

Boursicot first met Shi in China while posted to the French Embassy in Peking as an accountant in 1964. He was 20 years old and Shi was 26. They met at an embassy reception and shortly began a romance. The two became intimate but made love rarely, always in haste and in darkness. Boursicot reportedly attributed Shi's shyness about her body to her Chinese upbringing. Shi insisted in later years that he never claimed to be female to Boursicot. It was a misunderstanding that Shi simply allowed to stand without correction[1].

[edit] Spy

In 1965, Shi claimed to be pregnant and later produced a male baby, called Shi Dudu (later called Bertrand by Boursicot and his family), who had been bought from a doctor in the Xinjiang province of China.[2] Over the next decade, they continued their on-again off-again affair as Boursicot moved from posting to posting within Southeast Asia. Boursicot has stated that he began passing documents to Shi when the Chinese Cultural Revolution made it difficult for him to see her. He was approached by Kang Sheng, a member of the Chinese secret service who offered him access to Shi in exchange for his passing documents. He believed Shi's safety was at risk if he failed to participate.[3]

[edit] Return to France

Boursicot returned to France in 1979 and lost contact with Shi for a time. In 1982 Boursicot was able to get Shi and the now sixteen year old Bertrand out of China and to Paris where they attempted to live as a family. The arrival of a Chinese citizen into the home of a former diplomat who had once been posted to Peking raised eyebrows with the French counterespionage service. Boursicot was eventually questioned and confessed to having passed at least 150 classified documents to Shi.[3]

[edit] Arrest & Prosecution

In 1983, Boursicot and Shi Pei-Pu were arrested for spying for China. At trial, Boursicot defended his actions by saying he only passed documents to Shi so she could protect herself. He said she was at risk for having the affair with him and being the mother of his son.[4]. The prosecution then dramatically revealed Shi's official sex to Boursicot. He refused to believe it until he was permitted to see proof in the form of Shi's body. Not long after, he attempted suicide unsuccessfully in prison.[1] Both individuals were charged with spying against the French government and served time.

Shi was pardoned in 1987.[5] Upon release, Shi Pei-Pu was subsequently deported.[6] Boursicot was last reported to be living contentedly with a longtime male partner, and has apparently made peace with the nature of his relationship with Shi. Shi and Shi Dudu continue to be a family but have no contact with Boursicot. Bouriscot cooperated fully with Joyce Wadler in her research for her book Liaison, granting her lengthy interviews about deeply personal subjects as well as access to all records and his closest family.

About the affair, Boursicot is quoted as saying: "When I believed it, it was a beautiful story."[1]

[edit] Legacy

  • The play M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang is based on this affair as is the 1993 movie of the same name directed by David Cronenberg.
  • Boursicot is a known lover of the play, despite the negative portrayal of the main character Rene Gallimard, based on him. He attends productions of the play around the world, including the set of the David Cronenberg film.
  • Kang Sheng, Shi Pei-Pu's control agent in the Tewu, the Chinese Secret service, has had his career covered in a book The Chinese Secret Service.[7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c KPBS On Air Magazine (August 1993), "M. Butterfly” at North Coast Repertory Theatre (October 2006)
  2. ^ Time.com, World Notes Spies - Why Not Sort of Pregnant?, (October 2006)
  3. ^ a b The New York Times (Sunday, May 11th, 1986), France Jails 2 in Odd Case of Espionage (October 2006)
  4. ^ Asia Times Online (May 4th 2005) Asia's two butterfly syndromes, (October 2006)
  5. ^ New York Times (April 10th, 1987), France Pardons Chinese Spy Who Pretended to Be Woman (October 2006)
  6. ^ The New York times (Sunday April 10th, 1988), A 'Butterfly' That Hovers Over The Issues of Racism, Sexism, (October 2006)
  7. ^ Faligot Roger, Kauffer Remi (1990), The Chinese Secret Service, William Morrow & Co., ISBN 0-688-09722-7
  • Joyce Wadler; Liaison ISBN 0-553-09213-8
  • Joyce Wadler; August 15, 1993. The True Story of M. Butterfly; The Spy Who Fell in Love With a Shadow. "There is a little alarm that goes off in us, a small inner voice that senses danger. And on Thursday, June 30, 1983, on a busy commercial street in Paris, Bernard Boursicot -- an attache in the French Foreign Service who has always dreamed of being a man of distinction -- is hearing that alarm in his head. It is odd. Usually Boursicot returns to Paris after being posted abroad the way a hungry man sits down at the table. Old friends, good food, all-night bars, the possibility of a brief and amusing love affair -- he approaches it all with cheerful greed. But this morning, walking down Avenue Bosquet on the Left Bank, all Boursicot feels is the tension."