Pavel Ivanovich Ibis, or Paul Ibis, a 22-year-old Russian naval officer (he was born in today’s Estonia) embarked alone on a dangerous and adventurous journey – on foot – through Taiwan in the winter of 1875. At the time, much of the island was under Qing rule; a prefecture of Fujian Province.

So, what was he doing here? He left very detailed accounts of places, people and customs, and Paul Ibis seems to have had a genuine “anthropological” interest in this island. But was he also possibly a spy? Or at least gathering data for his superiors in the then-still powerful Russian Empire under Tsar Alexander II? (And, yeah, that was the Tsar who sold Alaska to the US in 1867.) 

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