Manchu Princess, Japanese Spy: The Story of Kawashima Yoshiko, the Cross-Dressing Spy Who Commanded Her Own Army (Asia Perspectives: History, Society, and Culture) Hardcover – Illustrated, April 7, 2015

excellent story of the daughter of the last emperor of Manchu, China . And her exploits in China and Japan. Zona Roberts

Manchu Princess, Japanese Spy by Phyllis Birnbaum.As an American reader who was totally unfamiliar with the life of Kawashima Yoshiko, I found the story of this real-but-legendary woman, jaw-droppingly incredible. Already of only elementary school age Yoshiko drew great attention to herself for her outlandish behavior, especially in conservative Japan. She rode a horse to school, dressed and talked as a man, spoke up to adults like equals (she was a Chinese princess, after all); andby her mid twenties she had lovers—male (who were high-up in the power structure of Japan), and likely female as well. She seems to have been a spy, either for Japan or China, or both; she was an aviator, a dancer, a restaurateur, and the model for the (somewhat) fictionalized character in a very popular Japanese book of 1933, The Beauty in Men's Clothing. And, oh, did I say she was also the commander of an army that was involved in the Battle of Rehe in 1932? (The early 1930s were really big years for her). Besides all of this she had a lust and knack for publicity—the Japanese public devoured every tidbit they could find about her, and there was lots in the newspapers. In short, the myth grew much greater than the woman and she became like contemporary media personalities of today who are famous for being famous.All of the foregoing is to inform the reader what Phyllis Birnbaum was up against in presenting a credible account of this utterly unbelievable character. I would think the task similar to trying to figure out the facts in a murder mystery—what really happened and what didn't. Birnbaum took an approach similar to a particular style of movie or television documentary (think Grey Gardens). She does not tell the story chronologically. Facts regarding Yoshiko's early life are mixed together with later facts, and material that is only hearsay or has obscure sources appears on the same pages with information stemming from direct interviews between Birnbaum and the very few remaining relatives who directly knew the Manchu princess. What was real, what was myth? Gradually by presenting the various story fragments, one by one, and out of sequential order, a structure of the whole life of a picaresque character emerges, whether all the details are true or not. Birrnbaum's account suggests the truth, but doesn’t insist on it. She rigorously quotes her sources and has opinions on their reliability. Nevertheless, she leaves it to the rational, thinking reader to sift through "facts" along with her to construct a plausible persona that fits historical reality. Even accepting a minimal amount of information as factual, the old adage that "truth is stranger than fiction" certainly fits a description of this Manchu princess who was also a Japanese spy. But besides being an amazing biography, those unfamiliar with Sino-Japanese relations of the 1930s-40s will also find Birnbaum's book an interesting an illuminating read.

The narrative reads well and I like the fact that she resisted the misapplications queerness onto Yoshiko like many academics did in their queering of Walt Whitman.Nevertheless this linear and sweeping narrative avoids complications by focusing to much on Yoshiko's associates and family members. There's so much lacking that the author flip flops on Yoshiko's narratives / lies to the point that it appears she wants to erect a nice and tidy picture of a sordid past - abuse, trauma, dislocation, sexual promiscuity, gender confusion, etc. - to make some sort of sense of this early 20th century enigma.Expectedly, the Last Emperor (1987) is mentioned as a catalyst to reopen curiosities about Yoshiko - mainly to Western mind's- however she overlooks the many Chinese and Euro-American popular works re-igniting her legend that have came before and since - the biopic starring Hong Kong actress Anita Mui comes to mind. The authors use of mainly Japanese sources reveals a thinly veiled agenda of sorts to present an official narrative - a narrative that would satisfy Japanese and American audiences that strip Japanese of agency - although in this case we have a complicated Pacifist. But why bother? The narrative simply writes her off as a lying burdensome, scheming anomaly!Enjoyed the read, but longed for more info on Yoshiko. Why did she open a Chinese restaurant? How did she procure Opium? How was she injured by an airplane propeller? How did she become such a jet setter? The book left so many unanswered questions that I feel compelled to read the fictitious novels regarding her exploits as they would be more entertaining.

This is a collection of loosely connected stories, some of which are about her, but most of which are about the men around her. There’s a huge amount on her biological father. Her adoptive father. Her first biographer. Her various lovers. But we get shockingly little about her, and what we do get does not seem to be well understood. I will give two examples.“Among her ailments was a spinal inflammation, perhaps from an injury involving a plane propeller.”How can you not give further information on this? This is the first and only time planes are mentioned, if there is something as dramatic as an injury with a plane propeller, I want to know! But no, its never addressed. There are other odd things like this too, for instance the book talks about Yoshiko opening a Chinese restaurant, but goes into no details as to how, or why. How did this person, so conflicted about their background and ethnicity, come to open a Chinese restaurant? I would love to know! Sadly this book does not tell us.The second example is “Yoshiko made the police even more nervous when she discribed the hopes of the people of manchukuo. According to her, they considered the occupying Japanese the incarnation of the Buddha and seated blessings of compassion and mercy…but she seems to lack the capacity to do anything more than express her alarm.”Okay, first of all it takes a huge amount of bravery to speak out against a corrupt government and simply the act of doing that, of spreading awareness is incredibly important. In fact, there’s a large section about how much information was repressed, so one would think Yohsiko speaking out was actually vitally important. I do not know how this is lost on the author.Im not saying Yokshio was a nice or even a good person. But in this biography she’s just boring. And I don’t know how you can do that to a Japanese/Chinese, gender queer, Royal spy army Commander.

A great book about a fascinating character.

A bit disappointing. Largely because I first "met" this character in David Bergamini's WW2 history of the Japanese war machine and she seemed more glamorous and exotic. In reality she is very much less so. A good piece of writing, well sources and fair.