-21-                            
 
                                                            
 
 
Carlo, Roman Emperor. "You criticize too much"- said  
Count Ciano smilingly - and I will not read You any more."  
And With these words he closed the diary. I insisted that  
he read me some other part, but it was in vain. "As You  
wish"- I said -but one day You will read it all to me."  
             These words slipped over my lips.              
 
                    CHINESE AND JAPANESE                    
 
                                                            
 
 
We also discussed the Orient. Count Ciano had been  
in China for quite some time and had a profound knowledge  
of the Chinese people. He spoke of them with great sym-  
pathy. He boasted of being the first one to realize that  
the Chinese would have become good soldiers. He learned  
this by watching the Shanghai police - which - as we know -  
is mixed: one part being Chinese and the other European  
and Japanese. He considered the Chinese police to be the  
best of all. It was the Japanese, who with their brutality  
and bestial cruelty had forced these peaceful people to  
become warriors, but Count Ciano was convinced that the  
Japanese would never succeed in breaking the Chinese resis-  
tance. They could never go through with an occupation of  
the vast Chinese territory. They would only be able to  
cast forth their spedition corpse. When the Japanese  
arrived, they set fire to a few houses, destroyed some  
villages - then passed, without leaving other traces behind them than   
couple of hundred of graves. And the  
war spread around the country like fire. It could be likened to a ship   
that cleaves the water: the sea opens  
up - and imediately closes - no trace is left. While he  
was talking, I could not help thinking of the unhappy  
                         destiny...