"I can feel to a certain extent that even though there are officials of the Chinese Empire who are friendly to Europeans like my friend Mr. Li Wenwen and Mr. Li Wenyuan's cousin, Mr. Li Wenyuan, to a certain extent, the attitude of most officials of the Chinese Imperial Government is still relatively indifferent to us."

"The most direct example is that when I and a few of my colleagues went to the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the Chinese Empire in the Governorate of Ceylon to apply for a visit to the staff of the captured East India Company, the officials of the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the Chinese Empire very indifferently handed us a statute with precautions and charged us a large fee per capitation, and then ignored us."

"We wandered around the building of the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the Imperial Governorate of Ceylon for a long time, and it took great difficulty to find a small department dedicated to prison visits. From the time we entered the Foreign Affairs Bureau to the time we found the small department, a whole day had passed, and even our lunch was solved in a small stall outside the Foreign Affairs Bureau building.

Take a sip of Javanese coffee from the Javanese plantations of the Chinese Empire, Ludwig van der Perr, the special envoy of the United Provincial Republic for the plenipotentiary negotiations of the Chinese Empire, wrote in his diary.

Although this disregard of foreigners by the imperial Chinese government is unpleasant, fortunately, the official in charge of prison visits in the Foreign Affairs Bureau is a mixture of lowland and Chinese. He was a young man of both Chinese and two origins born from the union of a Javanese Chinese and a merchant of the East India Company. ”

"Perhaps because he has the blood of the United Provincial Republic, Mr. Su Xixian, who can speak fluent Low Ground, is not only curious about us, but also friendly to us. At least for our questions, Mr. Su Xixian can answer all questions. ”

However, in the exchange with us, Mr. Su Xixian also regretfully explained to us why the officials of the Chinese Imperial Government ignored us. He told us that because almost all white people are the same in the eyes of the Chinese, we are people of one country in their eyes like the Spaniards who committed great crimes against the Chinese Imperial Government and the citizens of the Chinese Empire. ”

"Although most Chinese know that Europe is divided into multiple countries, because they also know that the whole of Europe is only two-thirds the size of the Chinese Empire, everyone has always conceptually thought that all Europeans are people of one country. You must know that those educated Chinese know that Europeans claim to be descendants of the Romans, and there are still countries that claim to be the Roman Empire, so they think that Europe is in a sense a unified country like ancient Rome. Besides, don't you all believe in Christianity? ’。 It is clear from these explanations that Mr. Su Xixian also considers the Europeans to be one and a whole to some extent. ”

"To be honest, even as a scholar, I don't have a good theory to explain the differences between European countries. You see, because of royal marriages and shared beliefs, there is a reason to think of Europe as a whole. I can only explain to Mr. Su Xixian that because of the differences in religious beliefs and political systems, European countries can also be divided into Protestant countries and Catholic countries, royal states and republics. ”

"After I explained to Mr. Su Xixian, he nodded very understandingly and said to me, 'We Chinese can understand this, after all, this is how the war you Europeans are fighting is divided.' ”

"After listening to such answers, I feel that there is no need to continue the discussion on this issue."

"The prisoner of war camp of the Imperial Chinese Empire in the Viceroyalty of Ceylon was set up in the suburbs of Gao Langbu. So we arrived at the POW camp soon in three tricycles driven by locals. Because I was also nervous about the situation of the prisoners of war, we didn't have a lot of mental attention to even something as magical as a bicycle. ”

"The metal smelting industry in the Chinese Empire must have been very developed, because when we arrived at the prisoner of war camp in the suburbs, we found that the walls of the prisoner of war camp were made of metal mesh made of iron wire. So even outside the POW camp, we can see a couple of Westerners playing some kind of ball game inside the POW camp walls, which are garrisoned by Chinese soldiers and local soldiers. ”

"Seeing such a scene, my colleagues and I are relieved."

"Most of the main captives of the United Provincial Republic were actually imprisoned in Java by the Chinese Empire. However, because the East India Company also had a commercial establishment in the Indian Ocean region, when the Chinese Empire captured the Portuguese city in Ceylon, the personnel of the East India Company's commercial pavilion in Ceylon were also arrested. ”

"Since the commercial officer who presided over the main affairs of the East India Company in the Indian Ocean was the heir to a high-ranking official of the United Provincial Republic, our group also undertook the task of visiting and rescuing as far as possible the merchant officer who was the heir to the high-ranking member of the council."

"Mr. Rosberg is only about twenty years old. Like the more pioneering families in the Republic, he had long been in charge of his family's overseas business development. ”

"The first thing this young man with blond hair and piercing blue eyes said when he saw us coming to visit him was not to complain or to thank him, but to tell us, in a very deep voice, that many of the officers of the East India Company had betrayed the United Provinces."

"It is evident that the merchant gentleman, who had been imprisoned two years ago, did not know that the East India Company clerks had been in the service of the Imperial Chinese government for some time."

"As soon as Mr. Rosberg had pointed out to us the traitor, he had the frugality of the United Provinces and the Republic of China, and he immediately made it necessary for us to make quick representations with the Chinese Empire and rescue him. Because the cost of living in the camps was too high. ”

"We are very puzzled by this. You must know that in the past few days in Gao Langbu, we have found that the price of Gao Langbu under the rule of the Chinese Empire is very low. Even if we have to change into new shirts and underwear every day, and go to a restaurant every day, the maximum cost per person is not more than one silver dollar per day. ”

"But Monsieur Rosberg was quick to tell us that in the prisoner-of-war camps there was no need to pay any fee if they were to undergo reform-through labour like ordinary Portuguese and republican prisoners. But upper-class people like him, who are unwilling to accept re-education through labor, have to pay exorbitant fees for their own food and housing. ”