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Zheng Pingru
Zheng Pingru (1918 – February 1940) was a Chinese socialite and spy who gathered intelligence on the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. She was executed after an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Ding Mocun, the security chief of the Wang Jingwei regime, a puppet government for the Japanese. Her life is believed to be the inspiration for Eileen Chang's novella Lust, Caution, which was later adapted into the eponymous 2007 film by Ang Lee.
Zheng Pingru was born in 1918 in Lanxi, Zhejiang Province, Republic of China. Her father, Zheng Yueyuan (鄭鉞原), also known as Zheng Yingbo (鄭英伯), was a Nationalist revolutionary and a follower of Sun Yat-sen. While a student in Japan, Zheng Yueyuan married a Japanese woman, Hanako Kimura (木村 花子, Kimura Hanako), who adopted the Chinese name Zheng Huajun (鄭華君). They had two sons and three daughters; Pingru was the second oldest daughter.
From her mother, Zheng Pingru learned to speak Japanese fluently. She grew up in Shanghai, where her father taught at Fudan University. She studied at the Shanghai College of Politics and Law.
Zheng admired famous actresses Hu Die and Ruan Lingyu and wanted to be an actress, she performed with a group of actors from Datong University. But her father was very traditional and conservative, and was very opposed to her ambition.
She became a well-known socialite and appeared on the cover of the popular pictorial The Young Companion (Liangyou) in 1937. At the time, she was also becoming known as a musician and actress.
Although her family was half-Japanese, they were strongly opposed to Japan's aggression toward China. When Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and attacked Shanghai in 1932, Zheng and her siblings joined anti-Japanese protests.
When Japan invaded China in 1937 and occupied Shanghai following the Battle of Shanghai, Zheng secretly joined the resistance movement and became an underground Kuomintang (Nationalist) spy. Her ability to speak Japanese and the connections to her mother helped her to spy and collect information on the Imperial Japanese Army.
Zheng was involved in a plot to assassinate Ding Mocun, the security chief of the Wang Jingwei puppet regime headed by Wang Jingwei. Ding was hated for collaborating with the Japanese and gained the nickname "Butcher Ding" for executing anti-Japanese resistance fighters. As Ding had formerly served as the principal of Zheng's secondary school, she was tasked with seducing him and luring him into a trap. Beginning in March 1939, Zheng arranged several "chance" encounters with Ding, and became his girlfriend.
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Zheng Pingru
Zheng Pingru (1918 – February 1940) was a Chinese socialite and spy who gathered intelligence on the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. She was executed after an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Ding Mocun, the security chief of the Wang Jingwei regime, a puppet government for the Japanese. Her life is believed to be the inspiration for Eileen Chang's novella Lust, Caution, which was later adapted into the eponymous 2007 film by Ang Lee.
Zheng Pingru was born in 1918 in Lanxi, Zhejiang Province, Republic of China. Her father, Zheng Yueyuan (鄭鉞原), also known as Zheng Yingbo (鄭英伯), was a Nationalist revolutionary and a follower of Sun Yat-sen. While a student in Japan, Zheng Yueyuan married a Japanese woman, Hanako Kimura (木村 花子, Kimura Hanako), who adopted the Chinese name Zheng Huajun (鄭華君). They had two sons and three daughters; Pingru was the second oldest daughter.
From her mother, Zheng Pingru learned to speak Japanese fluently. She grew up in Shanghai, where her father taught at Fudan University. She studied at the Shanghai College of Politics and Law.
Zheng admired famous actresses Hu Die and Ruan Lingyu and wanted to be an actress, she performed with a group of actors from Datong University. But her father was very traditional and conservative, and was very opposed to her ambition.
She became a well-known socialite and appeared on the cover of the popular pictorial The Young Companion (Liangyou) in 1937. At the time, she was also becoming known as a musician and actress.
Although her family was half-Japanese, they were strongly opposed to Japan's aggression toward China. When Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and attacked Shanghai in 1932, Zheng and her siblings joined anti-Japanese protests.
When Japan invaded China in 1937 and occupied Shanghai following the Battle of Shanghai, Zheng secretly joined the resistance movement and became an underground Kuomintang (Nationalist) spy. Her ability to speak Japanese and the connections to her mother helped her to spy and collect information on the Imperial Japanese Army.
Zheng was involved in a plot to assassinate Ding Mocun, the security chief of the Wang Jingwei puppet regime headed by Wang Jingwei. Ding was hated for collaborating with the Japanese and gained the nickname "Butcher Ding" for executing anti-Japanese resistance fighters. As Ding had formerly served as the principal of Zheng's secondary school, she was tasked with seducing him and luring him into a trap. Beginning in March 1939, Zheng arranged several "chance" encounters with Ding, and became his girlfriend.