"“MY NAME IS YOSHIKO KAWASHIMA, SOME CALL ME AISIN GIORO XIANYU IN MANCHURIA BUT TO MANY IN MY CIRCLE WHO KNEW WHAT I DID, I AM KNOWN SIMPLY AS THE JAPANESE PEONY AFTER MY FAVORITE FLOWER! I HAVE LIVED A COLORFUL AND COVERT DOUBLE LIFE OF INTRIGUE AND LIES, I’M EVEN SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN EXECUTED IN 1948! SO I REALLY CAN’T COMPLAIN THAT I MANAGED TO MAKE IT TO “OLD BONES” BUT DAY BY DAY, AS MY BODY GROWS WEAK, THE BURDEN OF THE SECRETS THAT WILL DIE WITH ME GROWS HEAVIER. I NEED TO TELL MY STORY AND CHANGE HISTORY FOREVER!”
BORN INTO THE ROYAL FAMILY OF PRINCE SU AND A RELATIVE OF PU YI, THE LAST EMPEROR OF CHINA, YOSHIKO WAS A PRINCESS. HOW, ONE MIGHT ASK, DID A CHINESE PRINCESS FROM THE ROYAL HOUSE OF THE QING DYNASTY BECOME A SPY FOR THE JAPANESE SECRET SERVICE UNIT? THIS BOOK SETS OUT TO PUT ALL THE DISJOINTED PIECES OF A HUGE PUZZLE TOGETHER TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION!
THIS BOOK ALSO LOOKS AT THE FASCINATING COVERT ACTIVITIES OF YOSHIKO AS A SPY, PLANNING AND ENGINEERING SOME OF THE MOST FAMOUS JAPANESE INCURSIONS INTO CHINA THAT MADE HER A HISTORICAL FIGURE NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN.
BUT IN THE MIDST OF SO MUCH HARDNESS, ANGST AND HIGH LIVING WERE TWO POIGNANT MOMENTS IN YOSHIKO’S LIFE WHEN SHE LOVED AND LOST FIRST YAMAGA, A JAPANESE MILITARY OFFICER AND IN THE FINAL YEARS OF HER HEYDAYS, JACK STONE, AN AMERICAN JOURNALIST.
IN 1945, WHEN JAPAN LOST THE WAR, YOSHIKO WAS BETRAYED BY HER BODYGUARDS AND CAPTURED BY CHIANG KAI SHEK’S MEN AND SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TREASON AND ESPIONAGE. HISTORY HAS IT THAT SHE WAS EXECUTED ON 25TH MARCH, 1948 BUT AS IN LIFE, HER “DEATH” WAS SHROUDED
IN MYSTERY AND INTRIGUE. WAS SHE EXECUTED OR DID SHE CHEAT DEATH IN A DARING SWAP WITH A DYING GIRL PAID TO TAKE HER PLACE?
THIS IS THE TRUE STORY OF YOSHIKO KAWASHIMA AND HER SPECTACULAR LIFE AS A PRINCESS AND A SPY. WE TRAVEL WITH HER THROUGH THE BREATH TAKING MAZE OF HER EARLY YEARS IN MANCHURIA EVOLVING TO HER TURBULENT LIFE IN JAPAN AS THE ADOPTED DAUGHTER OF NANIWA KAWASHIMA AND HIS COLD, DISDAINFUL WIFE, NATSUKO. THE TRAIL THEN TAKES US ON A WHIRLWIND ARRANGED MARRIAGE TO A MONGOLIAN PRINCE WHICH LASTED JUST ONE YEAR AND ON TO A GLITTERING LIFE IN SHANGHAI WHERE YOSHIKO WAS RECRUITED BY THE JAPANESE INTELLIGENCE AS A SPY FOR JAPAN AND FINALLY TO PEKING WHERE SHE ENDED UP IN PRISON NO. 1 WITH AN EXECUTION ORDER ON HER HEAD.
IT REMAINS A MYSTERY WHETHER YOSHIKO KAWASHIMA WAS ACTUALLY EXECUTED ON 25TH MARCH, 1948, THE OFFICIAL STAND OF CHINA IS THAT SHE WAS EXECUTED.
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"’योशिको कावाशिमा’ अर्थात मंचुरियाची ’आयसिन गिओरो’ आणि राजकुमार स्यू यांची मुलगी; कोणी तिला ’जपानी पियुनी’ या नावानेही ओळखत असत. योशिकोचे वैवाहिक (!) जीवन किंबहुना तिचे सारे आयुष्यच जपानी पियुनी या फुलासारखे रंगीत आणि त्याच्या दुहेरी गच्च पाकळ्यांप्रमाणे साहसी आणि संकटांनी भरलेले होते.
लहानपणापासूनच राजकन्या योशिको बंडखोर आणि संशयी वृत्तीची, स्वतंत्र (खरेतर स्वैर) विचारांची होती. पुढे तरुणपणी ती जपानची गुप्तहेर बनली; आपले इप्सित साध्य होण्यासाठी ’वाट्टेल ते’ करण्यास ती तयार असे. कारस्थाने, लबाडी, खोटेपणा यावर तिचा अधिक भर असल्याने आपोआप ती दोन परस्परविरोधी देशांच्या जाळ्यात अडकली आणि तिची तुरुंगात रवानगी झाली. तिला मृत्युदंडाची शिक्षा ठोठावण्यात आली. अर्थात त्यातूनही तिने आपली सुटका करून घेतली आणि पुढे ती सुमारे 39 वर्षे जगली; मात्र योशिकोचा तुरुंगातून पळाल्यानंतरचा जीवनप्रवास अज्ञातच राहिला.
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