Category: Culture & History

Shi Pei Pu, the Beijing opera singer and spy who was the inspiration for the broadway show M. BUtterfly died in Paris last week. Shi’s sexually convoluted love affair with a French Embassy worker created one of the strangest cases in international espionage.

The New York Times reported:

Mr. Shi, who was convicted of espionage in France in 1986 along with his lover, Bernard Boursicot, was believed to be 70. He had also been believed for years to be a woman, at least by Mr. Boursicot, who served time in prison after the affair and became a laughingstock in France.

The release of a top Chinese official’s personal memoirs may shed new light on the political and free-market reforms of the 1980’s in China, as well as the events leading up to the Tiananmen Square demonstrations and subsequent violence on June 4th, 1989.

Zhao Ziyang, the former Chinese Premier from 1980 to 1987 and then Secretary General from 1987 to 1989, was placed on house arrest following the Tiananmen Square incident for his sympathizing with demonstrators; and would remain there until his death in 2005.

During his years in isolation, Zhao managed to relate his personal experiences at the forefront of Chinese politics by recording over cassettes of children’s songs and the Chinese opera.

The tapes were subsequently smuggled out of the country by some of Zhao’s colleagues and are the material for the 306-page book Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang which will be released by Simon & Schuster on May 19th.

No doubt to the consternation of the current Chinese administration, Zhao praises the western system of parliamentary democracy in the last pages of his book as the only way to stamp out corruption and the growing economic inequality among China’s citizens.

5,335 students were killed or remain missing as a result of the 7.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Sichuan Province on May 12th last year, according to government officials. Another 546 students were left disabled.

Parents of the deceased have been demanding answers and accountability from the government for what they claim to be poorly constructed school buildings, but have been met with harassment and imprisonment.

As many as 7,000 schools collapsed during the earthquake, according to state media, with another 14,000 damaged.

Official estimates put the total number of deaths as a result of the earthquake at around 70,000 with another 18,000 missing.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso arrived in China yesterday with the hope of improving relations between the two countries which have been strained for quite some time.

In Beijing, Prime Minister Aso met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to discuss the current financial crisis, the North Korean nuclear threat, and other topics that will be better resolved with improved bilateral relations.

“The development of stable, long-term, friendly neighborly Sino-Japan relations meets the fundamental interests of the people of both our nations,” said Premier Jiabao.

Japan’s past actions, dating back to the 1937 Nanjing massacre, have left many in China with Anti-Japanese sentiment.

“Historical issues are sensitive and affect the feelings of a nation’s people. It is hoped the Japanese side can endeavor to handle them properly,” remarked Premier Jiabao.