CHINA: Noblesse Oblige

Yoshiko Kawashima said she was born a Manchu princess; she grew up to become a Japanese spy. In her career as the "Mata Hari of China," she posed variously as a Chinese soldier, a taxi driver, a Korean prostitute (Chinese officers always asked for Koreans, she explained), a schoolteacher.

This week, sentenced by the Chinese to die for espionage, Yoshiko asked not to be put to death at Peiping's Bridge of Heaven. She said she would be "greatly embarrassed" unless she was shot privately and without fanfare.

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