[4] David Wang added that due to the Century of humiliation in which Europeans subjugated Chinese, to the readers the ending "must have been exhilarating".
"[6] The novel's beginning highlights this new China and also discusses a civil war between majority ethnic Mongoloids and Caucasoids, supported by adjacent white European powers, in Hungary;[2] they are deciding whether to support a white European calendar or a Chinese calendar; each one would orient Hungary towards a different society.
David Der-wei Wang stated that "it is no coincidence" that Biheguan zhuren used Hungary, which had once been invaded by Huns, as the setting of a clash of civilizations.
In addition Egypt and Turkey block several Central and Eastern European countries from assisting Western Europe.
In response Huang Zhisheng goes to 90-year old Liu Shengzu to get a special liquid that converts ocean water to combustible gases; an Italian man had tutored Liu Shengzu; he, who Huang Zhisheng had served under, used his scientific smarts to create that chemical.