Zheng Pingru's Beauty Trap Assassination Attempt on Ding Mocun

In 1939, Zheng Pingru, a young Chinese female agent of the Kuomintang intelligence service, was tasked with seducing and assassinating Ding Mocun, the security chief of the Japanese-backed Wang Jingwei puppet regime. Exploiting her charm, she became close to Ding and orchestrated an ambush at a Shanghai fur shop in December 1939. Ding, however, grew suspicious and escaped before the hit could be carried out. Zheng attempted to reconnect to resume the plot, but Ding set a trap and had her arrested. She admitted the plan, citing patriotic duty. In February 1940, at age 22, she was executed by the puppet government.

Zheng Pingru was condemned for endangering the state by the Wang Jingwei regime and executed in February 1940. After World War II, Ding Mocun was convicted of treason and collaboration by the Nationalist government and executed in 1947.

Whether Zheng's actions were motivated purely by patriotism or also by personal entanglement; the ethical validity of using seduction as an intelligence method; the degree of Zhongtong's backing and whether she was abandoned; conflicting narratives about her relationship with Ding; and the blurred lines between heroic sacrifice and tragic manipulation.

Zheng became a resistance icon, embodying female courage and patriotic sacrifice. Her story partly inspired Eileen Chang's "Lust, Caution" and its film adaptation, igniting global debate over gender, betrayal, and the moral ambiguity of using intimacy for political ends. The case remains a touchstone for discussions on wartime ethics and the commemoration of female agents.