The researcher phrased her opening remarks in this way to try to illuminate the background to the oriental trade of several hundred years ago, and to explain why the Europeans of that era were prepared to sail half way round the world to buy vast quantities of porcelain from far-off China.
研究人員以此為開場白，試圖說明數百年前東方貿易的背景，並解釋當年歐洲老祖宗何以不惜萬里風帆，大老遠到中國購買大量的瓷器。