For nearly 20 years, Chinese opera performer Shi Pei Pu kept a secret that would eventually shock the world. In the 1960s, Shi began a relationship with French diplomat Bernard Boursicot in Beijing, presenting as a woman and convincing him they had a child together. The boy was later revealed to have been adopted. Throughout their relationship, Boursicot passed sensitive intelligence to Shi, believing he was helping someone he loved. Both were eventually charged with spying for China. The deception came to light during their 1986 trial in France, when Shi’s biological sex became public, turning the case into one of the Cold War’s most extraordinary espionage scandals.