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In June 1983, Bernard Boursicot, a former diplomat at the French Embassy in Beijing, was arrested at his French home and accused of providing intelligence to China for years. After the trial, his Chinese wife, who had known her for nearly 20 years, appeared in court in a suit and leather. Bursiko learned that the child's mother was actually a man, and their love crystallization, a boy with blue eyes and black hair, was just an abandoned baby from Xinjiang. The most bizarre thing is that they have lived together for nearly 20 years, and Bursico has not found out that the other is a boy. Today, I will talk to you about the international espionage case that caused a sensation in China and France in the 80s of the last century. The case has also been called the most bizarre case in the history of espionage.
The story begins in the 1960s.
On January 28, 1964, the 15th anniversary of the founding of New China, the People's Daily published the news of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. France is also the first of many Western powers to establish diplomatic relations with China.
On the other side of the world, in Paris, France, there is a 20-year-old boy named Bernard. Bursiko is also the protagonist of today's story. Born in a rural city in France, he was 1.75 meters tall, and at that time he had the same toned body as a swimmer. Boursico, who dropped out of high school after graduating from high school, came to a metropolis like Paris to meet the world. Inadvertently, he learned from his friends that France was preparing to open an embassy in Beijing because of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. China? Beijing? Due to the closed information at that time, in the eyes of foreigners in the large division, China was a mysterious oriental country. Curious about the unknown world, Bursico signed up to become a staff member at the French Embassy in Beijing. On October 25, 1964, on a two-and-a-half-year contract, Bursico flew to Beijing and became an accountant and typist at the French Embassy in China.
Shortly after coming to Beijing, the embassy held a Christmas banquet and invited the Peking Opera troupe, which was very famous at that time. It was also at this cocktail party that Bursiko met Shi Peipu, a Peking opera actor dressed as a woman and singing Hua Dan. Although he is a male Dan, Shi Peipu has fair skin, elegant demeanor, feminine movements and orchid fingers that are upturned from time to time, full of the sexiness of oriental beauty. On top of that, Shi Peipu is also fluent in French. Soon the two became good friends, and Bursiko often used the excuse of learning Chinese to go to Shi Peipu. The two also traveled through beijing's scenic spots. Everywhere he went, Pepepe told Bursiko about the history, culture and stories of the area. Bursiko was deeply attracted to Shi Peipu, but he couldn't tell whether it was a friendship between the good buddies or something else.
In early 1965, Bursico was given the opportunity to explore the Brazilian rainforest and resigned from his embassy. Shi Peipu was very reluctant to Bursiko, so he invited him to his home. On this day, Shi Peipu told Bursico the story of Liang Zhu in China, and told him that his mother had given birth to two daughters in a row, and was afraid of being abandoned by his father, who was patriarchal at that time, so after giving birth to him, she raised him as a boy from an early age, in fact, he was a woman. Just like Zhu Yingtai in Liang Zhu.
Upon hearing this, Bursico was not surprised, and there was even a hint of joy. He said to Shi Peipu, "You are my best friend, and I will help you keep this secret." But at this time, Bursiko's eyes were different when he looked at it unconsciously. The two are completely caught in the vortex of love.
On July 14, 1965, Shi Peipu was at his home in Bursiko, and the two had their first relationship. Shi Peipu turned off the lights and told Bursiko that because of traditional Chinese culture, women in the East are reserved. I don't undress even when I'm doing boyfriend things. And because I took hormones before, I look more masculine. Bursiko also accepted Shi Peipu's shyness and was even deeply attracted by this Sino-French cultural difference.
But at the end of the same year, due to the transfer of work, Bursiko had to leave China and work in the Middle East for three years. As he was about to leave China, for some reason, Shi Peipu told Bursiko that she was pregnant. Boursico was ecstatic and promised to come back to China and ask him or her to wait for him or her.
In 1969, Bursico returned to China as an archivist at the French Embassy in China. However, in the years since he left, he has not been able to withstand loneliness after all, and has a relationship with a French medical student. However, he returned to China this time to find Shi Peipu and their children. Under the scrutiny of many parties, Bursico saw his lover again one evening on the second floor of an apartment. Bursiko asks where are Pebble's children? Because China was in a turbulent period at that time, Shi Peipu said that the europeans' facial features would bring danger to him, so he had to send him to a small border town in the west. He also took out a black-and-white photograph and said, "Look, this is our son." "In the photo is a two- or three-year-old boy with thick eyebrows, big eyes, mixed Chinese and Western blood. Shi Peipu said that he named the child Shi Dudu.
The apartment where Shi Peipu lived was often visited by people dressed in military uniforms. In order to buy time with Shi Peipu, Bursico provided the visiting middle-aged man with information that he had access to at the French embassy.
In 1972, Bursico finished his work at the embassy in Beijing and returned to France. Since then, he has been in contact with Shi Peipu by letter.
In November 1973, during a short trip to Beijing, Bursiko met his son Shi Dudu. Behind Shi Peipu, a 7-year-old child stuck his head out. Bursiko said in his diary that it was the best day of his life. He went to the store to buy soccer balls and toy airplanes for his son and bathed him.
The first thing he did when he returned to France, Bursico told his mother that she had a seven-year-old grandson. Although Bursico, who is lonely and lonely in France, once lived with a 23-year-old man, he still missed Shi Peipu's mother and son.
In 1976, Bursiko wrote to the French Ministry of the Interior asking whether there were any positions in the Far East. It was at this time that the Mongolian embassy in Ulaanbaatar needed a clerk. Even if the living environment in Mongolia is more extreme, it can reach minus forty degrees in winter. Bursiko accepted the job anyway, as Ulaanbaatar was only a 36-hour train ride to Beijing. Almost every month, Bursiko took advantage of the convenience of his travels to Beijing by train to visit Pei Pu and his son.
In 1982, Boursico returned to Paris. In the same year, Shi Peipu, as a Peking Opera performance artist, was invited by the French Cultural Exchange Project to bring his son Shi Dudu to Paris, and finally reunited with Boursico.
Soon after, however, the CIA informed the French government that the secrets of the French embassy in China had been leaked in the 1970s. Because all U.S. documents were passed through the French Embassy at the time, the CIA naturally looked into Bursiko's head.
On June 30, 1983, Bursico and Pepepe were arrested by French police. When asked about Pepp's identity, Bursiko replied that she was my wife, the mother of my children. However, Pei Pu's throat knot is prominent, his hands are small, his voice is neutral, and his tone is high. Shi Peipu explained that these signs appeared because she had a bad heart, but refused to be examined by a doctor.
A few days later, both Bursiko and Shi Peipu were imprisoned awaiting trial. Although Bursico was surprised that Shi Peipu was with him in the men's prison, he did not suspect Shi Peipu's gender. While in prison, he was comforted when Pei Pu said "it's all right". However, the judge then interrogated Bursico and Shi Peipu separately. Both Shi Peipu's testimony and subsequent medical examinations revealed that Shi Peipu was a boy and showed no signs of undergoing sex reassignment surgery. Shi Peipu confessed his true gender to the court, but insisted that the son Shi Dudu was a child obtained through artificial insemination and belonged to Bursiko. However, later DNA tests revealed that neither the son was related to Either Bursiko nor Shi Peipu. Shi Peipu also finally admitted that Shi Dudu was a Uighur orphan he bought from Xinjiang. Because of the relationship between ethnic minorities, he looks like a mixed-race child.
Bursico could not accept reality for a while, until one day, when Pepe pu in the cell stood in Bursico and took off his pants, Bursico finally collapsed. What broke him down was not only Pei Pu's concealment over the years, but also the lack of understanding of same-sex love in society at that time. When men fall in love with each other, it is as if they have done something that is natural. Tormented by shame day and night, Bursico tried to commit suicide with a razor in prison, but was found and rescued in time.
In May 1986, the court convicted Bursiko and Shi Peipu of espionage and sentenced them to six years in prison. It was found that between 1969 and 1972, Bursiko took advantage of his position to provide confidential documents to China. From 1977 to 1979, during his tenure in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Bursiko stole more than 500 documents for China.
Bursiko in prison is like a walking dead, and his past love for Shi Peipu has turned into unforgivable hatred.
In April 1987, in order to ease diplomatic relations with China, French President Mitterrand granted amnesty and released Shi Peipu and Bursico early. Because the embassy documents that Bursiko successively provided to Shi Peipu were of a very low level of secrecy, the loss to France was negligible.
Shi Peipu was also allowed to stay in Paris to live. After his release from prison, Shi Peipu earned a living on an allowance from the Chinese Embassy and an income from teaching Peking Opera. Many local Chinese believed that Shi Peipu had sacrificed himself for the country's intelligence cause and had seduced Bursiko. He is considered a hero who bears the burden of humiliation for the country and sacrifices himself.
After their release from prison, the two had almost no contact. Years later, Peper once told Bursico on the phone, "I still love you," but Bursiko didn't respond.
On June 30, 2009, Shi Peipu died in Paris. The local press telephoned Bursiko, who is still alive. Bursiko reacted coldly and said, "He has done so many things to be sorry for me, without a trace of pity, he is dead, the plate is now empty." I'm free. ”
Although nearly 30 years have passed since this espionage case, there are still many doubts that are puzzling. First, Shi Peipu himself had been adamantly denying that he was a Chinese spy during the trial, claiming that he had "deceived" Bursiko only to give himself a chance to leave China during the Cultural Revolution. And Bursiko never said who initiated the theft of intelligence. The Chinese foreign ministry also said that Shi Peipu could not be a spy. As for why they did the work of transmitting intelligence, too many details of it can not be verified. In addition, I believe that many people will find it unbelievable, husband and wife life for so many years, although there are two places in the middle, but even children have been born, how can Bursiko not find out that Pei Pu is a man? When Pepu was six years older than Bursiko, according to Bursiko, the two played in a black light every time they had a relationship. And it was all led by Shi Peipu, who thought it was a tradition unique to oriental women, and he was willing to respect this tradition. The doctor who examined Pei Pu at the time said he had a hidden penis, which caused his genitals to resemble the female genital organs.
The other is Bursiko's sexual orientation. After returning to France in 1972, Bursico lived with a man. Moreover, according to Genbulciko, his first contact with Shi Peipu was also his first contact with men and women, and he had never been in love before at school. So some people think that Bursico may be gay or even bisexual in itself.
And Shi Peipu was also born in a famous family at that time. Both parents are professors, graduated from Yunnan University, majoring in French and Spanish, and belong to the more open-minded intellectuals. In the context of the times at that time, it is also understandable why Shi Peipu wanted to leave China.
It seems to me that I prefer to believe the speculation that both Pepe and Bursico are gay. The two had already had feelings for each other when they first met. It was only because of the concept of the times at that time that neither of them could take that step. But at that time, Pei Pu told Boursico the story of Liang Zhu and told him that she was a woman. The repressed feelings of the two finally broke out, and they chose the most absurd and bold way, living in the lies that the two had woven together. No one wants to break through that layer of window paper. A lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth. Sometimes people do not understand the truth, but they deceive themselves and are unwilling to believe the truth.
This can be called the most absurd spy case of the last century, and it was later adapted into the movie "Butterfly Jun", played by Zun Long Shi Peipu. Interested friends can look for it.