16 Facts About Bernard Boursicot

Bernard Boursicot was born on 12 August 1944 and is a French diplomat who was caught in a Chinese honeypot trap by Shi Pei Pu, a male Peking opera singer who performed female roles, whom Boursicot claimed he believed to be female.

Bernard Boursicot first met Shi Pei Pu in China while posted to the French Embassy in Peking as an accountant in 1964.

Bernard Boursicot believed he was a mixed-race Chinese and French, and that there was a family resemblance between him and the boy.

Bernard Boursicot has stated that he began passing documents to Shi when the Chinese Cultural Revolution made it difficult for him to see her.

Bernard Boursicot was approached by Kang Sheng, a member of the Chinese secret service who offered him access to Shi in exchange for his passing documents.

Bernard Boursicot believed Shi's safety was at risk if he failed to participate.

Bernard Boursicot returned to France in 1979 and lost contact with Shi.

In 1982, Bernard Boursicot was able to get the now 16-year-old Shi Du Du out of China and to Paris, where they lived as a family.

Bernard Boursicot was questioned by authorities and confessed to having passed at least 150 classified documents to Shi.

Bernard Boursicot refused to believe it until he was permitted to see proof in the form of Shi's body.

Bernard Boursicot, released four months after Shi, was last reported to be living contentedly with Thierry and has apparently made peace with the nature of his relationship with Shi.

In Shi's obituary, it was reported that Shi Du Du was living in Paris and believed by Bernard Boursicot to have a family with three sons.

Bernard Boursicot cooperated fully with reporter Joyce Wadler, who was seeking information for her book on the espionage case and affair, Liaison, granting her lengthy interviews about deeply personal subjects as well as access to all records and his closest family members.

Bernard Boursicot falls in love with another student but is called home to participate in an arranged marriage.

Bernard Boursicot reported that it is only when he had the opportunity to leave his dull job that Shi Pei Pu told him the Story of the Butterfly again with an added twist that he, Shi Pei Pu, had been a woman masquerading as a man all his life to prevent her father from taking a second wife and shaming her mother who had two older daughters.

Bernard Boursicot accepted the lie, their affair began, and all that came after ensued.