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History of the Jews in China

Jews and Judaism in China are predominantly composed of Sephardi Jews and their descendants. Other Jewish ethnic divisions are also represented, including Ashkenazi Jews, Mizrahi Jews and a number of converts.

Chinese Jews
中国犹太人
יהודים סיניים
Total population
3,000 (2021)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Kaifeng, Shanghai, Beijing, Harbin, Tianjin
Languages
Hebrew (liturgical), English, Mandarin, Cantonese formerly Judeo-Persian (historic)
Religion
Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Hui people
Bukharan Jews • Ashkenazi Jews • Sephardi Jews • Mizrahi Jews
Other Jewish ethnic divisions

The Jewish Chinese community manifests a wide range of Jewish cultural traditions and it also encompasses the full spectrum of Jewish religious observance. Though a small minority, Chinese Jews have had an open presence in the country since the arrival of the first Jewish immigrants during the 8th century CE. Relatively isolated communities of Jews developed from ancient all the way to modern China, most notably the Kaifeng Jews (the term "Chinese Jews" is often used in a restricted sense in order to refer to these communities). In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Jewish merchants from around the world began to trade in Chinese ports, particularly in the commercial centres of Hong Kong, which was for a time a British colony; Shanghai (the International Settlement and French Concession); and Harbin (the Trans-Siberian Railway). In the first half of the 20th century, thousands of Jewish refugees escaping from pogroms in the Russian Empire arrived in China. By the time of the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, only a few Jews were known to have maintained the practice of their religion and culture.

Overview Edit

The presence of a community of Jewish immigrants in China arguably began sometime in the Song Dynasty though a number of scholars have argued for their presence there in earlier Tang dynasty times. In the 9th century, the Persian geographer Ibn Khordadbeh noted the travels of Jewish merchants called Radhanites, whose trade took them to China via the Silk Road through Central Asia and India. He mentioned the presence of Jewish merchants in a number of Chinese cities, and the important economic role they played transporting merchandise as well as transmitting scientific and technological expertise by land and sea all the way from Spain and France via the Middle East to China.[2] The medieval Italian explorer Jacob of Ancona, the supposed author of a book of travels, was a scholarly Jewish merchant who wrote in vernacular Italian, and reached China in 1271,[3] although some authors question its veracity.[4][5][6][7]

During the period of China's opening to the West and British quasi-colonialism, the first group to settle in China were Jews who arrived in China under British protection following the First Opium War. Many of these Jews were of Indian or Iraqi origin, due to significant British colonialism in these regions. The second community came in the first decades of the 20th century when many Jews arrived in Hong Kong and Shanghai during those cities' periods of economic expansion. Many more Jews arrived as refugees from the Russian Revolution of 1917. A surge of Jews and Jewish families was to arrive in the late 1930s and 1940s, for the purpose of seeking refuge from the Holocaust in Europe and were predominantly of European origin. Shanghai was notable for its special area assigned to Jewish refugees, most of whom left after the war, the rest relocating prior to or immediately after the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

Many Jews in China converted to Islam and became Hui Muslims.[8] [9][10] [11][12] [13] [14] [15][16][17][18]

Over the centuries, the Kaifeng community came to be virtually indistinguishable from the Hui and Han Chinese population and is therefore no longer recognized by the Chinese government as a separate ethnic minority. This is as a result of having maintained already-Jewish and adopted many Han Chinese customs including patrilineal descent and extensive intermarriage with the Hui population.[19] Since their religious practices are considered to be functionally extinct, they are not eligible for expedited immigration to Israel under the Law of Return unless they explicitly convert.[20][19]

Today, many descendants of the Jews have assimilated into Hui Muslim populace. Some of them, as well as international Jewish communities are beginning to search for these descendants to help them revive their interest in their Jewish roots. This is especially important in modern China because belonging to any minority group includes a variety of benefits including reduced restrictions on the number of children and easier admission standards to tertiary education.

History Edit

It has been asserted by some that the Jews who have historically resided in various places in China originated with the Lost Ten Tribes of the exiled ancient Kingdom of Israel who relocated to the areas of present-day China. Traces of some ancient Jewish rituals have been observed in some places.[21]

One well-known group was the Kaifeng Jews, who are purported to have traveled from Persia to India during the mid-Han Dynasty and later migrated from the Muslim-inhabited regions of northwestern China (modern day Gansu province) to Henan province during the early Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127).[22]

Origins Edit

 
Jews of Kaifeng, late 19th or early 20th century

There is an oral tradition that the first Jews immigrated to China through Persia following the Roman Emperor Titus's capture of Jerusalem in 70 CE. A large number of Jews emigrated from Persia during the reign of Emperor Ming of Han (58–75 CE).[23] Writing in 1900, Father Joseph Brucker hypothesized that Jews came to China from India by a sea route since ancient times.

Three steles with inscriptions found at Kaifeng bear some historical suggestions. The oldest, dating from 1489, commemorates the construction of a synagogue (1163) (bearing the name Qīngzhēn Sì, a term often used for mosque in Chinese), states the Jews entered China from India in the Later Han Dynasty (25–220 CE), the Jews' 70 Chinese surnames, their audience with an "un-named" Song Dynasty Emperor, and finally lists the transmission of their religion from Abraham down to the prophet Ezra. The second tablet, dated 1512 (found in the synagogue Xuanzhang Daojing Si) details the Jews' religious practices. The third is dated 1663 and commemorates the re-rebuilding of the Qingzhen si synagogue and recaps the information from the other two steles.[22]

Father Joseph Brucker believed Matteo Ricci's manuscripts indicate there were only approximately ten or twelve Jewish families in Kaifeng in the late 16th and early 17th century, and that they had reportedly resided there for five or six hundred years. It was also stated in the manuscripts that there was a greater number of Jews in Hangzhou. This could be taken to suggest that loyal Jews fled south along with the soon-to-be crowned Emperor Gaozong to Hangzhou. In fact, the 1489 stele mentions how the Jews "abandoned Bianliang" (Kaifeng) after the Jingkang Incident.

Many Jewish communities were established in China in the Middle Ages. However, not all left evidence of their existence. The following are those known today: Kaifeng, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Yangzhou, Ningxia, Guangzhou, Beijing, Quanzhou, Nanjing, Xi'an and Luoyang.[24]

Names Edit

The contemporary term for Jews in use among Chinese today is Youtairen (Chinese: 猶太人; pinyin: Yóutài Rén) in Mandarin Chinese and "yau tai yan" in Cantonese. The terms have a similar pronunciation to יהודאי (Yehudai)—the Aramaic word for Jew—and to Ἰουδαῖος (iudaios), the Greek word.

It has been recorded that the Chinese historically called the Jews Tiao jin jiao (挑筋教), loosely, "the religion which removes the sinew,"[25] probably referring to the Jewish dietary prohibition against eating the sciatic nerve (from Genesis 32:32).[26]

Jewish dietary law (kashrut), which forbids the eating of, among other foods, non-ruminant mammals, shellfish and reptiles, would have most likely caused Jewish communities to stand out from the surrounding mainstream Chinese population,[original research?] as Chinese culture is typically very free in the range of items it deems suitable for food.[citation needed]

Jews have also been called the Blue-Hat Hui (Chinese: 藍帽回; pinyin: Lánmào Húi), in contrast to other populations of Hui people, who have identified with hats of other colors.[25] The distinction between Muslim and Jewish Hui is not, and historically has not been, well recognised by the dominant Han population.[citation needed]

A modern translation of the "Kaifeng Steles" has shown the Jews referred to their synagogue as "The Pure and Truth", which is essentially the same as the term used in modern China to refer to Muslim mosques (清真寺). lǐbàisì 禮拜寺 and qīngzhēnsì 清真寺 were used as names of both synagogues and mosques by Jews and Muslims.[27]

According to an oral tradition dictated by Xu Xin, Director of the Centre for Judaic Studies at Nanjing University, in his book Legends of the Chinese Jews of Kaifeng, the Kaifeng Jews called Judaism Yīcìlèyè jiào (一賜樂業教), lit. the religion of Israel. Yīcìlèyè is a transliteration and partial translation of "Israel". Xu Xin translates this phrase as "Chosen people, endowed by God, and contented with their lives and work".[citation needed]

Early record Edit

 
Bird's eye view of the synagogue of Kaifeng.

The earliest evidence showing the presence of Jews in China is from the beginning of the 8th century: a business letter written in the Judeo-Persian language, discovered by Marc Aurel Stein. The letter (now housed in the British Museum) was found in Dandan Uiliq, an important post along the Silk Road in northwest China during the Tang Dynasty (618–907). The text is thirty-seven lines in length and was written on paper, a product then manufactured only in China. It was identified, by David Samuel Margoliouth, as dating from 718 CE.[28][29] Ibn Zeyd al Hassan of Siraf, a 9th-century Arabian traveler, reports that in 878 followers of the Chinese rebel leader Huang Chao besieged Canton (Guangzhou) and killed a large number of foreign merchants, Arabs, Persians, Christians and Jews, resident there.[30]

China was a destination for Radhanite Jews who brought boys, female slaves from Europe to sell to any local according to the Book of Roads and Kingdoms by ibn Khordadbeh.[31] At Dandan Oilik an 8th-century document written in Judeo-Persian was found and translated by Aurel Stein.[32]

Sources indicate that Jews in China were often mistaken for Muslims by other Chinese. The first plausible recorded written Chinese mention of Jews uses the term Zhuhu (竹忽) or Zhuhudu (朱乎得) (perhaps from Arabic Yehoud or from Hebrew Yehudim, "Jews") found in the Annals of the Yuan Dynasty in 1329 and 1354. The text spoke of the reinforcement of a tax levied on "dissenters" and of a government decree that the Jews come en-masse to Beijing, the capital.

Famous Venetian traveler Marco Polo, who visited China, then under the Yuan Dynasty, in the late 13th century, described the prominence of Jewish traders in Beijing. Similar references can be found in the notes of the Franciscan John of Montecorvino, first archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Beijing in the early 14th century, and the writings of Ibn Batuta, an Arabian envoy to the Mongol Empire in the middle of the 14th century.

Genghis Khan called both Jews and Muslims Huihui when he forbade Jews and Muslims from practicing kosher and halal preparation of their food, calling both of them "slaves" and forcing them to eat Mongol food, and banned them from practicing circumcision.[33][34]

Among all the [subject] alien peoples only the Hui-hui say “we do not eat Mongol food”. [Cinggis Qa’an replied:] “By the aid of heaven we have pacified you; you are our slaves. Yet you do not eat our food or drink. How can this be right?” He thereupon made them eat. “If you slaughter sheep, you will be considered guilty of a crime.” He issued a regulation to that effect ... [In 1279/1280 under Qubilai] all the Muslims say: “if someone else slaughters [the animal] we do not eat”. Because the poor people are upset by this, from now on, Musuluman [Muslim] Huihui and Zhuhu [Jewish] Huihui, no matter who kills [the animal] will eat [it] and must cease slaughtering sheep themselves, and cease the rite of circumcision.[35]

During the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), a Ming emperor conferred seven surnames upon the Jews, by which they are identifiable today: Ai (艾), Shi (石), Gao (高), Jin (金), Li (李), Zhang (張), and Zhao (趙).[36][37] Two of these, Jin and Shi, are the equivalent of common Jewish names in the west: Gold and Stone.[38][39]

The first modern Western record of Jews residing in China is found in the records of the 17th-century Jesuit missionaries in Beijing. The prominent Jesuit Matteo Ricci, received a visit from a young Jewish Chinese man in 1605. Ricci mentioned this man's name as Ngai, who has since been identified by the French sinologist Paul Pelliot as a Jew named Ai T'ien, who explained that the community he belonged to was monotheistic, or believing in only one God. It is recorded that when he saw a Christian image of Mary with the child Jesus, he took it to be a picture of Rebecca with Esau or Jacob, figures from Hebrew Scripture. Ngai (Ai Tian, Ai T'ien) declared that he had come from Kaifeng, and stated that this was the site of a large Jewish population.[40] Ricci sent an ethnic Chinese Jesuit Lay Brother to visit Kaifeng;[40] later, other Jesuits (mostly European) also visited the city. It was later discovered that the Jewish community had a synagogue (Libai si), which was constructed facing the west, and housed a number of written materials and books.

The Jews who managed the synagogue were called "Mullahs". Floods and fire repeatedly destroyed the books of the Kaifeng synagogue. They obtained some from Ningxia and Ningbo to replace them. Another Hebrew roll of law was bought from a Muslim in Ning-keang-chow in Shen-se (Shanxi), who acquired it from a dying Jew at Canton.[41]

The Chinese called Muslims, Jews, and Christians in ancient times by the same name, "Hui Hui" (Hwuy-hwuy). Crossworshipers (Christians) were called the "Huay who abstain from animals without the cloven foot", Muslims were called "Hwuy who abstain from pork", Jews were called "Hwuy who extract the sinews (removes the sciatic nerve)". Hwuy-tsze (Hui zi) or Hwuy-hwuy (Hui Hui) is presently used almost exclusively for Muslims, but Jews were still called Lan Maou Hwuy tsze (Lan mao Hui zi) which means "Blue cap Hui zi". At Kaifeng, Jews were called "Teaou kin keaou "extract sinew religion". Jews and Muslims in China shared the same name for synagogue and mosque, which were both called "Tsing-chin sze" (Qingzhen si) "Temple of Purity and Truth", the name dated to the 13th century. The synagogue and mosques were also known as Le-pae sze (Libai si). A tablet indicated that Judaism was once known as "Yih-tsze-lo-nee-keaou" (israelitish religion) and synagogues known as Yih-tsze lo nee leen (Israelitish Temple), but it faded out of use.[42]

A Muslim in Nanjing told Semedo that four families of Jews converted to Islam since they were the last Jews in Nanjing, their numbers diminishing.[43]

Various Jewish Chinese individuals worked in government service and owned big properties in China in the 17th century.[44]

Shanghai's first wave of Jews came in the second half of the 19th century, many being Mizrahi Jews from Iraq. The first Jew who arrived there was Elias David Sassoon, who, about the year 1850, opened a branch in connection with his father's Bombay house. Since that period Jews gradually migrated from India to Shanghai, most of them being engaged from Bombay as clerks by the firm of David Sassoon & Co. The community was composed mainly of "Asian," (Sephardi) German, and Russian Jews, though there were a few of Austrian, French, and Italian origin among them. Jews took a considerable part in developing trade in China, and several served on the municipal councils, among them being Silas Aaron Hardoon, partner in the firm of E. D. Sassoon & Co., who served on the French and English councils at the same time. During the early days of Jewish settlement in Shanghai, Jews were involved in the trade in opium and Bombay cotton yarn.

Modern times Edit

 
A plaque commemorates the former Jewish Middle School in Harbin, now the No. 2 Korean Middle School

Contemporaneous sources estimated the Jewish population in China in 1940—including Manchukuo—at 36,000 (source: Catholic Encyclopedia).

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Jewish merchants from around the world began to trade in Chinese ports, particularly in the commercial centres of Hong Kong, which was for a time a British colony; Shanghai (the International Settlement and French Concession); and Harbin (the Trans-Siberian Railway). In the first half of the 20th century, thousands of Jewish refugees escaping from pogroms in the Russian Empire arrived in China. By the time of the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, only a few Jews were known to have maintained the practice of their religion and culture. China's Jewish communities have been ethnically diverse, ranging from the Jews of Kaifeng and all other ports throughout China. Kaifeng Jewish ancestry has been found among their descendants living among the Hui Muslims, such as during a hajj pilgrimage the Hui Muslim woman Jin Xiaojing (金效靜) found out about her Jewish ancestry and wrote about it in an article, "China's Jews" (中国的犹太人) published in "Points East" in 1981. Scholars have pointed out that Hui Muslims may have absorbed Kaifeng Jews instead of Han Confucians and Buddhists.[45][46] Jewish converts to Islam who became Hui Muslims in 16th century China were called the blue hat Hui (藍帽回回) since they converted to Islam due to similarities in their traditions.[47] One of the 7 prominent Hui Muslim clans of Kaifeng, the Zhang Jewish clan, became Muslim.[48] The Zhang family, among several Hui Muslims with Kaifeng Jewish ancestry call themselves "fake Muslims" since they are openly proud of their ancestry[49] Instead of being absorbed into Han, a portion of the Jews of China of Kaifeng became Hui Muslims.[50] In 1948 Samuel Stupa Shih (Shi Hong Mo) (施洪模) said he saw a Hebrew language "Religion of Israel" Jewish inscription on a tombstone in a Qing dynasty Muslim cemetery to a place west of Hangzhou.[51] It is reported that they came to be more or less totally assimilated into the Hui Muslim populace, due to widespread intermarriage; especially during the Ming Dynasty.[52][19] In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, however, some international Jewish groups, most notably Shavei Israel, have helped Chinese Jews rediscover their Jewish heritage and reconnect with their Jewish roots.[53]

Shanghai Edit

 
Torah finial in the shape of a pagoda from 19th-century Shanghai (Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme)

Jewish life in Shanghai had really taken off with the arrival of the British. Mizrahi Jews from the Middle East came as traders via India and Hong Kong and established some of the leading trading companies in the second half of the 19th century. Later, after World War I, many Ashkenazi Jews came from Europe. Rebbe Meir Ashkenazi (Chabad-Lubavitch) was the Chief Rabbi of Shanghai (1926–1949).

Russian Jews Edit

At the early 20th century many Russian Jews fleeing pogroms in several towns in Russian Empire decided to move to northeast China for permanent settlement (Rabbi Aharon Moshe Kiselev served in Harbin from 1913 until his death in 1949). After the Russian Revolution of 1917, many White Russians, fled to Harbin (former Manchuria). These included, among others, Dr. Abraham Kaufman, who played a leading role in the Harbin Jewish community after 1919,[54] the parents of future Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and Teodor Parnicki at the age of 12. According to estimates, over 20,000 Jews lived in Harbin and played a key role in the shaping of local politics, economy and international trade.[55]

Dr. Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Republic of China, admired the Jewish people and Zionism, and he also saw parallels between the persecution of Jews and the domination of China by the Western powers. He stated, "Though their country was destroyed, the Jewish nation has existed to this day ... [Zionism] is one of the greatest movements of the present time. All lovers of democracy cannot help but support wholeheartedly and welcome with enthusiasm the movement to restore your wonderful and historic nation, which has contributed so much to the civilization of the world and which rightfully deserve [sic] an honorable place in the family of nations."[56]

The Japanese occupation of Northeast China in 1931 and the establishment of Manchukuo in 1932 had a negative impact on the Harbin Jewish community (13,000 in 1929). Most of those Jews left Harbin for Tianjin, Shanghai, and the British Mandate of Palestine. Until 1939, the Russian Jews were about 5,000 in Shanghai.[57]

World War II Edit

Another wave of 18,000 Jews from Germany, Austria, and Poland immigrated to Shanghai in the late 1930s and early 1940s to escape the Holocaust.[58] Shanghai was an open city at the time and it did not have restrictions on immigration, and some Chinese diplomats such as Ho Feng Shan issued "protective" passports and the Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara issued transit visas with which refugees could go to Shanghai after a short stay in Japan. In 1943, the occupying Japanese army required these 18,000 Jews, formally known as "stateless refugees," to relocate to an area of 0.75 square miles (1.9 km2) in Shanghai's Hongkew district (today known as the Hongkou District) where many lived in group homes called "Heime".[59] The total number of Jews who entered Shanghai during this period equaled the total number of Jews who fled to Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa combined. Many of the Jews in China later moved to found the modern state of Israel.

Shanghai was an important safe-haven for Jewish refugees during the Holocaust, since it was one of the few places in the world where one didn't need a visa. However, it was not easy to get there. The Japanese, who controlled the city, preferred to look the other way. However, some corrupt officials also exploited the plight of the Jews. By 1941, nearly 20,000 European Jews had found shelter there.

 
Jakob Rosenfeld, a doctor for the New Fourth Army, between Liu Shaoqi (left) and Chen Yi (right).

Notable Jews during the Second Sino-Japanese War include Dr. Jakob Rosenfeld, Stanisław Flato, Ruth Weiss, Eva Sandberg (photographer and wife of Communist leader Xiao San), and Morris Abraham Cohen.

Late in the war, Nazi representatives pressured the Japanese army to devise a plan to exterminate Shanghai's Jewish population, and this pressure eventually became known to the Jewish community's leadership. However, the Japanese had no intention of further provoking the anger of the Allies after their already notorious invasion of China and their additional invasion of a number of other Asian nations, so they delayed the German request until the War ended. With the intercession of the Amshenower Rebbe and the translation skills of Leo (Ariyeh) Hanin, the Japanese ultimately kept the Jews of Shanghai safe.[60]

In general, in the period from 1845 to 1945, more than 40,000 Jews came to China to do business or in search of a safe haven.[61]

Late 20th century Edit

After World War II and the establishment of the PRC in 1949, most of these Jews emigrated to Israel or the West, although a few remained. Three prominent non-Chinese lived in China from the establishment of the People's Republic of China to the contemporary period: Sidney Shapiro, Israel Epstein, and Ruth Weiss, two American emigres and one Austrian emigre, are of Jewish descent. Another Jewish-American, Sidney Rittenberg served as interpreter to many top Chinese officials.

Structured Jewish life returned to Beijing in 1979 with the founding of Kehillat Beijing, an egalitarian lay-led community serving ex-patriate Jews from all over the world.

Sara Imas, the Shanghai-born daughter of Shanghai's Jewish Club president, Leiwi Imas, became the first Chinese Jewish immigrant to Israel after the two countries established formal diplomatic relations in 1992. Leiwi Imas, who had to leave Germany for Poland in 1939, arrived in Shanghai the same year. He spent his final years in Shanghai until 1962, prior to the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. Although Sara Imas's non-Chinese appearance and family background brought her much trouble during the Cultural Revolution when she was accused of being a foreign capitalist and spy, today Sara Imas has returned to Shanghai, working as the Chinese representative of an Israeli diamond company.[62][better source needed]

On June 27, 1985, an international group of scholars and activists gathered in Palo Alto, California to establish the Sino-Judaic Institute.[63] Rabbi Anson Laytner serves as the incumbent president.[64]

The Institute of Jewish Studies was established at Nanjing University in 1992.[65]

Since the 1990s, the Shanghai municipal government has taken the initiative to preserve historical Western architectures that were constructed during Shanghai's colonial past. Many formerly Jewish-owned hotels and private residence have been included in the preservation project. In 1997, the Kadoorie-residence-turned Shanghai Children's Palace, had their spacious front garden largely removed in order to make room for the city's overpass system under construction. A One Day Tour of the history of Jewish presence in Shanghai can be arranged through the Center of Jewish Studies Shanghai.[66] Rabbi Shalom Greenberg from Chabad-Lubavitch in New York City arrived in Shanghai to serve this community in August 1998. Rabbi Arthur Schneier, president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation of New York, donated a Torah to the community that same year. On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, in September 1999, a Jewish New Year service was held at the Ohel Rachel Synagogue for the first time since 1952.[67]

21st century Edit

As of 2010, it is estimated that 2,000 to 3,000 Jews lived in Shanghai.[citation needed] In May 2010, the Ohel Rachel Synagogue in Shanghai was temporarily reopened to the local Jewish community for weekend services.[68] Synagogues are found in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, serving both native Chinese Jews, Israelis and diaspora Jewish communities across the world.[69]

In 2001, Rabbi Shimon Freundlich from the Chabad-Lubavitch movement came and settled in Beijing with the mission of building and leading the Chabad-Lubavitch Centre of Beijing.[67] Kehillat Beijing continues its practice of conducting weekly lay-led Shabbat services, regular holiday observance, and community activities including retreats and celebrations. In 2007, the Sephardic community of Shanghai opened a synagogue, study hall, kosher kitchen, and educational classes for children and adults. The community has its own hacham, who functions as a teacher and chazan, in addition to Rabbi Ephraim Bezalel, who manages local community affairs and kashrut needs.[70] Since a significant amount of Chinese food products and food ingredients are exported to the American market, a number of kosher certification agencies send rabbis to China to serve as kosher inspectors (mashgichim). As of 2009, over 50 mashgichim have been stationed in China, 7 of them from the Orthodox Union.[71]

As of 2019, Harbin could claim a single Jewish inhabitant, professor Dan Ben-Canaan, who helped advise the local government on restoring the city's synagogues and other Jewish-related buildings.[72]

Kaifeng's Jewish community has reported increasing suppression by the authorities since 2015, reversing the modest revival it experienced in the 1990s. The observance of public religious services and the celebration of religious festivals like Passover and Sukkot have been prohibited, and Jewish community groups have been shut down. Signs have been removed from the Kaifeng Synagogue, a historical site located on Teaching the Torah Lane that is now under strict surveillance.[73]

A small number of Chinese Jews have succeeded in making aliyah and immigrating to Israel with the help of private organisations such as Shavei Israel.

Notable Chinese-born people of Jewish ancestry Edit

See also Edit

References Edit

Citations Edit

  1. ^ "Jewish Population of the World". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  2. ^ Wald, Shalom Salomon (2004). China and the Jewish People. Jerusalem: The Jewish People Planning Policy Institute / GefenPublishing House. p. 83. ISBN 965-229-347-4.
  3. ^ David Selbourne. The City of Light. Abacus, London 1998. ISBN 978-0-349-10895-7
  4. ^ Spence, Jonathan (October 19, 1997). "Leaky Boat to China". The New York Times.
  5. ^ Mark Honigsbaum. Chinese fake away? The Spectator, October 25, 1997
  6. ^ J.R.S. Philips. The Medieval Expansion of Europe. Oxford University Press, 1998, p.289. ISBN 978-0-19-820740-5
  7. ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-08-05. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
  8. ^ Lieberman, Phillip I., ed. (2021). The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 5, Jews in the Medieval Islamic World. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781009038591. ... the Jewish presence in the city predates this year.242 According to the 1489 inscription, the founders of the Kaifeng ... while others state that the Jews of Beijing and Nanjing converted to Islam.249 The same Ricci was the first to ...
  9. ^ Ehrlich, M. Avrum; Liang, Pingan (2008). "Part V KAIFENG JEWISH DESCENDANTS 14 THE CONTEMPORARY CONDITION OF THE JEWISH DESCENDANTS OF KAIFENG". In Ehrlich, M. Avrum (ed.). The Jewish-Chinese Nexus: A Meeting of Civilizations. Routledge Jewish Studies Series (illustrated ed.). Routledge. p. 194. ISBN 978-1134105533. Out of the seven original clans of Kaifeng Jews, the Zhang clan was said to have converted to Islam in the beginning of the twentieth century with the decline of the community and the problems in that period of China's history.
  10. ^ Dubov, Kalman. Journey to the People's Republic of China; Review & Analysis. Kalman Dubov. Most of the Zhang converted to Islam. Jews who managed the synagogues were called mullahs. A high number of Kaifeng Jews passed the difficult Chinese Civil Service examination during the Ming Dynasty. Four inscriptions from 1489, 1512, ...
  11. ^ Goldstein, Jonathan, ed. (1998). The Jews of China. M.E. Sharpe. p. 119. ISBN 076563631X. A 1757 regulation in the Paradesi record book stated : " If an Israelite or a ger [ apparently, a convert from outside Cochin ] marries a woman from the daughters ... of the mshuchrarim, the sons who are born to them go after the ...
  12. ^ Goldstein, Jonathan; Schwartz, Benjamin I. (2015). The Jews of China: v. 1: Historical and Comparative Perspectives (illustrated ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1317456049. Some ancestor rituals may still be carried out by Kaifeng Jewish descent groups today; it is hoped that ongoing ... a convert from outside Cochin] marries a woman from the daughters ... of the mshuchrarim, the sons who are born to them ...
  13. ^ Baron, Salo Wittmayer (1952). A Social and Religious History of the Jews: Late Middle Ages and the era of European expansion, 1200-1650. A Social and Religious History of the Jews. Vol. 18. Columbia University Press. p. 617. ISBN 0231088558. Characteristically, however, the Jewish people did not observe special memorial days for most of its ancient and ... No one seems to have seriously questioned the permissibility of the Kaifeng Jews marrying more than one wife.
  14. ^ Leslie, Donald Daniel (2017). "INTEGRATION, ASSIMILATION, AND SURVIVAL OF MINORITIES IN CHINA: THE CASE OF THE KAIFENG JEWS". In Malek, Roman (ed.). From Kaifeng to Shanghai: Jews in China. Routledge. p. 68. ISBN 978-1351566292. In any case, the Kaifeng Jews did not stand out as an exotic community, for there were a large number of Muslims there, ... and they did not intermarry.93 According to most authorities, many Jews finally assimilated to Islam.
  15. ^ Shapiro, Sidney (2001). Jews in Old China: Studies by Chinese Scholars. Hippocrene Books. p. 233. ISBN 0781808332. Muslim religious strictures required anyone, whether man or woman, who married a Muslim to convert to Islam . ... An San, a Kaifeng Jew, was awarded a rank of Third Grade, because of services he had rendered to the court ... -followers were not assimilated into the Han population. Jews who married Muslims had to embrace Islam. This is one of the reasons the Jews were assimilated.
  16. ^ Benjamin Isadore Schwartz; Frank Joseph Shulman (1999). Goldstein, Jonathan (ed.). The Jews of China: Historical and comparative perspectives. East Gate book. Vol. 1. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. p. 119. ISBN 0765601036. A 1757 regulation in the Paradesi record book stated : " If an Israelite or a ger (apparently, a convert from outside Cochin) marries a woman from the daughters ... of the mshuchrarim, the sons who are born to them go after the ...
  17. ^ Points East, Volumes 1-7. Sino-Judaic Institute. 1986. p. 8. Even the first generation of a mixed marriage will often find the offspring only too happy to escape into the non ... Though the Jews converted to Islam, they apparently retained a Jewish coloration, much like Jews to convert to ...
  18. ^ Michael Pollak; Bet ha-tefutsot (1984). קהילת קאפינג: Chinese Jews on the Banks of the Yellow River [The Jews of Kaifeng]. Tel Aviv, Israel: Bet Hatefutsoth, The Nahum Goldman Museum of the Jewish Diaspora. The community was also weakened by repeated natural, military and economic catastrophes that Kaifeng experienced over the centuries. Fire and flood took their toll,
  19. ^ a b c Eikenburg, Jocelyn (February 28, 2011). "Are Jewish Women More Likely to Marry Chinese Men?". Speaking of China.
  20. ^ "The Truth About Matrilineal Descent"
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  30. ^ Gabriel Ferrand, ed. (1922). Voyage du marchand arabe Sulaymân en Inde et en Chine, rédigé en 851, suivi de remarques par Abû Zayd Hasan (vers 916). Paris Éditions Bossard. p. 76.
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  38. ^ A Visit to Kaifeng by Beverly Friend Ph.D.
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  40. ^ a b De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas, Book One, Chapter 11. Pages 107-111 in the English translation: Gallagher (1953). "China in the Sixteenth Century: The Journals of Matteo Ricci", Random House, New York, 1953. The Latin original text, De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas suscepta ab Societate Jesu can be found on Google Books. The corresponding text is on pages 131 and onward of Book One of the Latin text.
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  45. ^ Kupfer (2008), p. 47: "Later, in the 19th and 20th centuries, it is likely, as suggested by many scholars, that several of the Kaifeng Jews did convert to Islam rather than simply being swallowed up in the Buddhist or Confucian multitude. Today, a number of Muslims (and possibly non-Muslims) have discovered that their ancestors were Kaifeng Jews.108... 108 Jin Xiaojing 金效靜, 1981, translated in Points East 1.1 (Jan 1986), 1, 4-5 . She discovered she was of Jewish descent when on the hajj to Mecca!"
  46. ^ 金效静;;中国的犹太人[J];社会科学战线;1981年04期
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Sources Edit

Works cited
  • Kupfer, Peter, ed. (2008). Youtai - Presence and Perception of Jews and Judaism in China. FASK, Publikationen des Fachbereichs Angewandte Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz in Germersheim: Abhandlungen und Sammelbände. Vol. 47. Universität Mainz. ISBN 978-3631575338. ISSN 0941-9543.
  • Loewe, Michael (1988). "The Jewish Presence in Imperial China". Jewish Historical Studies. 30: 1–20. JSTOR 29779835.
General references
  •   This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainSinger, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "China". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
  •   This article incorporates text from Chinese and Japanese repository of facts and events in science, history and art, relating to Eastern Asia, Volume 1, a publication from 1863, now in the public domain in the United States.
  •   This article incorporates text from The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith, by Sir Thomas Walker Arnold, a publication from 1896, now in the public domain in the United States.

Further reading Edit

  • Adler, Marcus N. "Chinese Jews." The Jewish Quarterly Review 13.1 (1900): 18-41. online
  • Eber, Irene, and Kathryn Hellerstein, eds. Jews in China: Cultural Conversations, Changing Perceptions (2021) excerpt
  • Ehrlich, M. Avrum. Jews and Judaism in modern China (Routledge, 2009).
  • Finn, James. The Jews in China: Their Synagogue, Their Scriptures, Their History (1843) very old guide online.
  • Katz, Yossi. "The Jews of China and their Contribution to the Establishment of the Jewish National Home in Palestine in the First Half of the Twentieth Century." Middle Eastern Studies 46.4 (2010): 543-554.
  • Kaufman, Jonathan. The Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China (2021) excerpt
  • Laytner, Anson, and Jordan Paper, The Chinese Jews of Kaifeng: A Millennium of Adaptation and Endurance (Lexington Books, 2017).
  • Loewe, Michael (1988). "The Jewish Presence in Imperial China". Jewish Historical Studies. 30: 1–20. JSTOR 29779835.
  • Loewenthal, Rudolf. "The nomenclature of Jews in China." Monumenta Serica 12.1 (1947): 97-126.
  • Malek, Roman. From Kaifeng to Shanghai: Jews in China (Routledge, 2017).
  • Neubauer, Adolf. "Jews in China." The Jewish Quarterly Review 8.1 (1895): 123-139. online
  • Paper, Jordan. The Theology of the Kaifeng Jews, 1000–1850 (Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2012)
  • Perlmann, S. M. The History of the Jews in China (R. Mazin, 1913) online.
  • Pollack, Michael. Mandarins, Jews, and Missionaries: the Jewish experience in the Chinese Empire, (New York: Weatherhill, 1998), ISBN 978-0-8348-0419-7.
  • Wald, Shalom Salomon. China and the Jewish People (2004)
  • White, William Charles. Chinese Jews, (2nd ed, Paragon, 1966).
  • Xu, Xin. The Jews of Kaifeng, China: History, Culture, and Religion (2003). online
  • Xun, Zhou. Chinese Perceptions of the Jews' and Judaism: A History of the Youtai (Routledge, 2013).
  • Zane, Nicholas. Jews in China: A History of Struggle (2019) excerpt

Historiography and Memory Edit

  • Goldstein, Jonathan, and Benjamin I. Schwartz. The Jews of China: v. 1: Historical and Comparative Perspectives (Routledge, 2015).
  • Goldstein, Jonathan. The Jews of China: v. 2: A Sourcebook and Research Guide (Routledge, 2018) online
  • Raiskin, Shlomy. "A Bibliography on Chinese Jewry", Moreshet Israel (Journal of Judaism, Zionism and Eretz-Israel), No. 3 (September 2006), pp. 60–85.
  • Ross, James R. et al. eds. The Image of Jews in Contemporary China (2019) excerpt
  • Shapiro, Sidney. Jews in Old China, Studies by Chinese Scholars, (Hippocrene Books, 1984), online
  • Shulman, Frank Joseph. "The Chinese Jews and the Jewish Diasporas in China from the Tang Period (AD 618-906) through the Mid-1990s: A Selected Bibliography." The Jews of China (Routledge, 2018) pp. 157–183.
  • Song, Lihong. "From 'Jews in China' to 'Jews and China'." Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 17.4 (2018): 487-495.

External links Edit

  • Schnorientalism: The Tao of Jews, The Jewish Forward

history, jews, china, jews, judaism, china, predominantly, composed, sephardi, jews, their, descendants, other, jewish, ethnic, divisions, also, represented, including, ashkenazi, jews, mizrahi, jews, number, converts, chinese, jews中国犹太人יהודים, סיניים, total, . Jews and Judaism in China are predominantly composed of Sephardi Jews and their descendants Other Jewish ethnic divisions are also represented including Ashkenazi Jews Mizrahi Jews and a number of converts Chinese Jews中国犹太人יהודים סיניים Total population3 000 2021 1 Regions with significant populationsKaifeng Shanghai Beijing Harbin TianjinLanguagesHebrew liturgical English Mandarin Cantonese formerly Judeo Persian historic ReligionJudaismRelated ethnic groupsHui peopleBukharan Jews Ashkenazi Jews Sephardi Jews Mizrahi JewsOther Jewish ethnic divisionsThe Jewish Chinese community manifests a wide range of Jewish cultural traditions and it also encompasses the full spectrum of Jewish religious observance Though a small minority Chinese Jews have had an open presence in the country since the arrival of the first Jewish immigrants during the 8th century CE Relatively isolated communities of Jews developed from ancient all the way to modern China most notably the Kaifeng Jews the term Chinese Jews is often used in a restricted sense in order to refer to these communities In the 19th and early 20th centuries Jewish merchants from around the world began to trade in Chinese ports particularly in the commercial centres of Hong Kong which was for a time a British colony Shanghai the International Settlement and French Concession and Harbin the Trans Siberian Railway In the first half of the 20th century thousands of Jewish refugees escaping from pogroms in the Russian Empire arrived in China By the time of the establishment of the People s Republic of China in 1949 only a few Jews were known to have maintained the practice of their religion and culture Contents 1 Overview 2 History 2 1 Origins 2 2 Names 2 3 Early record 3 Modern times 3 1 Shanghai 3 2 Russian Jews 3 3 World War II 3 4 Late 20th century 3 5 21st century 4 Notable Chinese born people of Jewish ancestry 5 See also 6 References 6 1 Citations 6 2 Sources 7 Further reading 7 1 Historiography and Memory 8 External linksOverview EditThe presence of a community of Jewish immigrants in China arguably began sometime in the Song Dynasty though a number of scholars have argued for their presence there in earlier Tang dynasty times In the 9th century the Persian geographer Ibn Khordadbeh noted the travels of Jewish merchants called Radhanites whose trade took them to China via the Silk Road through Central Asia and India He mentioned the presence of Jewish merchants in a number of Chinese cities and the important economic role they played transporting merchandise as well as transmitting scientific and technological expertise by land and sea all the way from Spain and France via the Middle East to China 2 The medieval Italian explorer Jacob of Ancona the supposed author of a book of travels was a scholarly Jewish merchant who wrote in vernacular Italian and reached China in 1271 3 although some authors question its veracity 4 5 6 7 During the period of China s opening to the West and British quasi colonialism the first group to settle in China were Jews who arrived in China under British protection following the First Opium War Many of these Jews were of Indian or Iraqi origin due to significant British colonialism in these regions The second community came in the first decades of the 20th century when many Jews arrived in Hong Kong and Shanghai during those cities periods of economic expansion Many more Jews arrived as refugees from the Russian Revolution of 1917 A surge of Jews and Jewish families was to arrive in the late 1930s and 1940s for the purpose of seeking refuge from the Holocaust in Europe and were predominantly of European origin Shanghai was notable for its special area assigned to Jewish refugees most of whom left after the war the rest relocating prior to or immediately after the establishment of the People s Republic of China Many Jews in China converted to Islam and became Hui Muslims 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Over the centuries the Kaifeng community came to be virtually indistinguishable from the Hui and Han Chinese population and is therefore no longer recognized by the Chinese government as a separate ethnic minority This is as a result of having maintained already Jewish and adopted many Han Chinese customs including patrilineal descent and extensive intermarriage with the Hui population 19 Since their religious practices are considered to be functionally extinct they are not eligible for expedited immigration to Israel under the Law of Return unless they explicitly convert 20 19 Today many descendants of the Jews have assimilated into Hui Muslim populace Some of them as well as international Jewish communities are beginning to search for these descendants to help them revive their interest in their Jewish roots This is especially important in modern China because belonging to any minority group includes a variety of benefits including reduced restrictions on the number of children and easier admission standards to tertiary education History EditIt has been asserted by some that the Jews who have historically resided in various places in China originated with the Lost Ten Tribes of the exiled ancient Kingdom of Israel who relocated to the areas of present day China Traces of some ancient Jewish rituals have been observed in some places 21 One well known group was the Kaifeng Jews who are purported to have traveled from Persia to India during the mid Han Dynasty and later migrated from the Muslim inhabited regions of northwestern China modern day Gansu province to Henan province during the early Northern Song Dynasty 960 1127 22 Origins Edit nbsp Jews of Kaifeng late 19th or early 20th centuryThere is an oral tradition that the first Jews immigrated to China through Persia following the Roman Emperor Titus s capture of Jerusalem in 70 CE A large number of Jews emigrated from Persia during the reign of Emperor Ming of Han 58 75 CE 23 Writing in 1900 Father Joseph Brucker hypothesized that Jews came to China from India by a sea route since ancient times Three steles with inscriptions found at Kaifeng bear some historical suggestions The oldest dating from 1489 commemorates the construction of a synagogue 1163 bearing the name Qingzhen Si a term often used for mosque in Chinese states the Jews entered China from India in the Later Han Dynasty 25 220 CE the Jews 70 Chinese surnames their audience with an un named Song Dynasty Emperor and finally lists the transmission of their religion from Abraham down to the prophet Ezra The second tablet dated 1512 found in the synagogue Xuanzhang Daojing Si details the Jews religious practices The third is dated 1663 and commemorates the re rebuilding of the Qingzhen si synagogue and recaps the information from the other two steles 22 Father Joseph Brucker believed Matteo Ricci s manuscripts indicate there were only approximately ten or twelve Jewish families in Kaifeng in the late 16th and early 17th century and that they had reportedly resided there for five or six hundred years It was also stated in the manuscripts that there was a greater number of Jews in Hangzhou This could be taken to suggest that loyal Jews fled south along with the soon to be crowned Emperor Gaozong to Hangzhou In fact the 1489 stele mentions how the Jews abandoned Bianliang Kaifeng after the Jingkang Incident Many Jewish communities were established in China in the Middle Ages However not all left evidence of their existence The following are those known today Kaifeng Hangzhou Ningbo Yangzhou Ningxia Guangzhou Beijing Quanzhou Nanjing Xi an and Luoyang 24 Names Edit The contemporary term for Jews in use among Chinese today is Youtairen Chinese 猶太人 pinyin Youtai Ren in Mandarin Chinese and yau tai yan in Cantonese The terms have a similar pronunciation to יהודאי Yehudai the Aramaic word for Jew and to Ἰoydaῖos iudaios the Greek word It has been recorded that the Chinese historically called the Jews Tiao jin jiao 挑筋教 loosely the religion which removes the sinew 25 probably referring to the Jewish dietary prohibition against eating the sciatic nerve from Genesis 32 32 26 Jewish dietary law kashrut which forbids the eating of among other foods non ruminant mammals shellfish and reptiles would have most likely caused Jewish communities to stand out from the surrounding mainstream Chinese population original research as Chinese culture is typically very free in the range of items it deems suitable for food citation needed Jews have also been called the Blue Hat Hui Chinese 藍帽回 pinyin Lanmao Hui in contrast to other populations of Hui people who have identified with hats of other colors 25 The distinction between Muslim and Jewish Hui is not and historically has not been well recognised by the dominant Han population citation needed A modern translation of the Kaifeng Steles has shown the Jews referred to their synagogue as The Pure and Truth which is essentially the same as the term used in modern China to refer to Muslim mosques 清真寺 lǐbaisi 禮拜寺 and qingzhensi 清真寺 were used as names of both synagogues and mosques by Jews and Muslims 27 According to an oral tradition dictated by Xu Xin Director of the Centre for Judaic Studies at Nanjing University in his book Legends of the Chinese Jews of Kaifeng the Kaifeng Jews called Judaism Yicileye jiao 一賜樂業教 lit the religion of Israel Yicileye is a transliteration and partial translation of Israel Xu Xin translates this phrase as Chosen people endowed by God and contented with their lives and work citation needed Early record Edit nbsp Bird s eye view of the synagogue of Kaifeng The earliest evidence showing the presence of Jews in China is from the beginning of the 8th century a business letter written in the Judeo Persian language discovered by Marc Aurel Stein The letter now housed in the British Museum was found in Dandan Uiliq an important post along the Silk Road in northwest China during the Tang Dynasty 618 907 The text is thirty seven lines in length and was written on paper a product then manufactured only in China It was identified by David Samuel Margoliouth as dating from 718 CE 28 29 Ibn Zeyd al Hassan of Siraf a 9th century Arabian traveler reports that in 878 followers of the Chinese rebel leader Huang Chao besieged Canton Guangzhou and killed a large number of foreign merchants Arabs Persians Christians and Jews resident there 30 China was a destination for Radhanite Jews who brought boys female slaves from Europe to sell to any local according to the Book of Roads and Kingdoms by ibn Khordadbeh 31 At Dandan Oilik an 8th century document written in Judeo Persian was found and translated by Aurel Stein 32 Sources indicate that Jews in China were often mistaken for Muslims by other Chinese The first plausible recorded written Chinese mention of Jews uses the term Zhuhu 竹忽 or Zhuhudu 朱乎得 perhaps from Arabic Yehoud or from Hebrew Yehudim Jews found in the Annals of the Yuan Dynasty in 1329 and 1354 The text spoke of the reinforcement of a tax levied on dissenters and of a government decree that the Jews come en masse to Beijing the capital Famous Venetian traveler Marco Polo who visited China then under the Yuan Dynasty in the late 13th century described the prominence of Jewish traders in Beijing Similar references can be found in the notes of the Franciscan John of Montecorvino first archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Beijing in the early 14th century and the writings of Ibn Batuta an Arabian envoy to the Mongol Empire in the middle of the 14th century Genghis Khan called both Jews and Muslims Huihui when he forbade Jews and Muslims from practicing kosher and halal preparation of their food calling both of them slaves and forcing them to eat Mongol food and banned them from practicing circumcision 33 34 Among all the subject alien peoples only the Hui hui say we do not eat Mongol food Cinggis Qa an replied By the aid of heaven we have pacified you you are our slaves Yet you do not eat our food or drink How can this be right He thereupon made them eat If you slaughter sheep you will be considered guilty of a crime He issued a regulation to that effect In 1279 1280 under Qubilai all the Muslims say if someone else slaughters the animal we do not eat Because the poor people are upset by this from now on Musuluman Muslim Huihui and Zhuhu Jewish Huihui no matter who kills the animal will eat it and must cease slaughtering sheep themselves and cease the rite of circumcision 35 During the Ming Dynasty 1368 1644 a Ming emperor conferred seven surnames upon the Jews by which they are identifiable today Ai 艾 Shi 石 Gao 高 Jin 金 Li 李 Zhang 張 and Zhao 趙 36 37 Two of these Jin and Shi are the equivalent of common Jewish names in the west Gold and Stone 38 39 The first modern Western record of Jews residing in China is found in the records of the 17th century Jesuit missionaries in Beijing The prominent Jesuit Matteo Ricci received a visit from a young Jewish Chinese man in 1605 Ricci mentioned this man s name as Ngai who has since been identified by the French sinologist Paul Pelliot as a Jew named Ai T ien who explained that the community he belonged to was monotheistic or believing in only one God It is recorded that when he saw a Christian image of Mary with the child Jesus he took it to be a picture of Rebecca with Esau or Jacob figures from Hebrew Scripture Ngai Ai Tian Ai T ien declared that he had come from Kaifeng and stated that this was the site of a large Jewish population 40 Ricci sent an ethnic Chinese Jesuit Lay Brother to visit Kaifeng 40 later other Jesuits mostly European also visited the city It was later discovered that the Jewish community had a synagogue Libai si which was constructed facing the west and housed a number of written materials and books The Jews who managed the synagogue were called Mullahs Floods and fire repeatedly destroyed the books of the Kaifeng synagogue They obtained some from Ningxia and Ningbo to replace them Another Hebrew roll of law was bought from a Muslim in Ning keang chow in Shen se Shanxi who acquired it from a dying Jew at Canton 41 The Chinese called Muslims Jews and Christians in ancient times by the same name Hui Hui Hwuy hwuy Crossworshipers Christians were called the Huay who abstain from animals without the cloven foot Muslims were called Hwuy who abstain from pork Jews were called Hwuy who extract the sinews removes the sciatic nerve Hwuy tsze Hui zi or Hwuy hwuy Hui Hui is presently used almost exclusively for Muslims but Jews were still called Lan Maou Hwuy tsze Lan mao Hui zi which means Blue cap Hui zi At Kaifeng Jews were called Teaou kin keaou extract sinew religion Jews and Muslims in China shared the same name for synagogue and mosque which were both called Tsing chin sze Qingzhen si Temple of Purity and Truth the name dated to the 13th century The synagogue and mosques were also known as Le pae sze Libai si A tablet indicated that Judaism was once known as Yih tsze lo nee keaou israelitish religion and synagogues known as Yih tsze lo nee leen Israelitish Temple but it faded out of use 42 A Muslim in Nanjing told Semedo that four families of Jews converted to Islam since they were the last Jews in Nanjing their numbers diminishing 43 Various Jewish Chinese individuals worked in government service and owned big properties in China in the 17th century 44 Shanghai s first wave of Jews came in the second half of the 19th century many being Mizrahi Jews from Iraq The first Jew who arrived there was Elias David Sassoon who about the year 1850 opened a branch in connection with his father s Bombay house Since that period Jews gradually migrated from India to Shanghai most of them being engaged from Bombay as clerks by the firm of David Sassoon amp Co The community was composed mainly of Asian Sephardi German and Russian Jews though there were a few of Austrian French and Italian origin among them Jews took a considerable part in developing trade in China and several served on the municipal councils among them being Silas Aaron Hardoon partner in the firm of E D Sassoon amp Co who served on the French and English councils at the same time During the early days of Jewish settlement in Shanghai Jews were involved in the trade in opium and Bombay cotton yarn Modern times Edit nbsp A plaque commemorates the former Jewish Middle School in Harbin now the No 2 Korean Middle SchoolContemporaneous sources estimated the Jewish population in China in 1940 including Manchukuo at 36 000 source Catholic Encyclopedia In the 19th and early 20th centuries Jewish merchants from around the world began to trade in Chinese ports particularly in the commercial centres of Hong Kong which was for a time a British colony Shanghai the International Settlement and French Concession and Harbin the Trans Siberian Railway In the first half of the 20th century thousands of Jewish refugees escaping from pogroms in the Russian Empire arrived in China By the time of the establishment of the People s Republic of China in 1949 only a few Jews were known to have maintained the practice of their religion and culture China s Jewish communities have been ethnically diverse ranging from the Jews of Kaifeng and all other ports throughout China Kaifeng Jewish ancestry has been found among their descendants living among the Hui Muslims such as during a hajj pilgrimage the Hui Muslim woman Jin Xiaojing 金效靜 found out about her Jewish ancestry and wrote about it in an article China s Jews 中国的犹太人 published in Points East in 1981 Scholars have pointed out that Hui Muslims may have absorbed Kaifeng Jews instead of Han Confucians and Buddhists 45 46 Jewish converts to Islam who became Hui Muslims in 16th century China were called the blue hat Hui 藍帽回回 since they converted to Islam due to similarities in their traditions 47 One of the 7 prominent Hui Muslim clans of Kaifeng the Zhang Jewish clan became Muslim 48 The Zhang family among several Hui Muslims with Kaifeng Jewish ancestry call themselves fake Muslims since they are openly proud of their ancestry 49 Instead of being absorbed into Han a portion of the Jews of China of Kaifeng became Hui Muslims 50 In 1948 Samuel Stupa Shih Shi Hong Mo 施洪模 said he saw a Hebrew language Religion of Israel Jewish inscription on a tombstone in a Qing dynasty Muslim cemetery to a place west of Hangzhou 51 It is reported that they came to be more or less totally assimilated into the Hui Muslim populace due to widespread intermarriage especially during the Ming Dynasty 52 19 In the late 20th and early 21st centuries however some international Jewish groups most notably Shavei Israel have helped Chinese Jews rediscover their Jewish heritage and reconnect with their Jewish roots 53 Shanghai Edit nbsp Torah finial in the shape of a pagoda from 19th century Shanghai Musee d Art et d Histoire du Judaisme Jewish life in Shanghai had really taken off with the arrival of the British Mizrahi Jews from the Middle East came as traders via India and Hong Kong and established some of the leading trading companies in the second half of the 19th century Later after World War I many Ashkenazi Jews came from Europe Rebbe Meir Ashkenazi Chabad Lubavitch was the Chief Rabbi of Shanghai 1926 1949 Russian Jews Edit At the early 20th century many Russian Jews fleeing pogroms in several towns in Russian Empire decided to move to northeast China for permanent settlement Rabbi Aharon Moshe Kiselev served in Harbin from 1913 until his death in 1949 After the Russian Revolution of 1917 many White Russians fled to Harbin former Manchuria These included among others Dr Abraham Kaufman who played a leading role in the Harbin Jewish community after 1919 54 the parents of future Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Teodor Parnicki at the age of 12 According to estimates over 20 000 Jews lived in Harbin and played a key role in the shaping of local politics economy and international trade 55 Dr Sun Yat sen founder of the Republic of China admired the Jewish people and Zionism and he also saw parallels between the persecution of Jews and the domination of China by the Western powers He stated Though their country was destroyed the Jewish nation has existed to this day Zionism is one of the greatest movements of the present time All lovers of democracy cannot help but support wholeheartedly and welcome with enthusiasm the movement to restore your wonderful and historic nation which has contributed so much to the civilization of the world and which rightfully deserve sic an honorable place in the family of nations 56 The Japanese occupation of Northeast China in 1931 and the establishment of Manchukuo in 1932 had a negative impact on the Harbin Jewish community 13 000 in 1929 Most of those Jews left Harbin for Tianjin Shanghai and the British Mandate of Palestine Until 1939 the Russian Jews were about 5 000 in Shanghai 57 World War II Edit Main article Shanghai Ghetto Another wave of 18 000 Jews from Germany Austria and Poland immigrated to Shanghai in the late 1930s and early 1940s to escape the Holocaust 58 Shanghai was an open city at the time and it did not have restrictions on immigration and some Chinese diplomats such as Ho Feng Shan issued protective passports and the Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara issued transit visas with which refugees could go to Shanghai after a short stay in Japan In 1943 the occupying Japanese army required these 18 000 Jews formally known as stateless refugees to relocate to an area of 0 75 square miles 1 9 km2 in Shanghai s Hongkew district today known as the Hongkou District where many lived in group homes called Heime 59 The total number of Jews who entered Shanghai during this period equaled the total number of Jews who fled to Australia Canada India New Zealand and South Africa combined Many of the Jews in China later moved to found the modern state of Israel Shanghai was an important safe haven for Jewish refugees during the Holocaust since it was one of the few places in the world where one didn t need a visa However it was not easy to get there The Japanese who controlled the city preferred to look the other way However some corrupt officials also exploited the plight of the Jews By 1941 nearly 20 000 European Jews had found shelter there nbsp Jakob Rosenfeld a doctor for the New Fourth Army between Liu Shaoqi left and Chen Yi right Notable Jews during the Second Sino Japanese War include Dr Jakob Rosenfeld Stanislaw Flato Ruth Weiss Eva Sandberg photographer and wife of Communist leader Xiao San and Morris Abraham Cohen Late in the war Nazi representatives pressured the Japanese army to devise a plan to exterminate Shanghai s Jewish population and this pressure eventually became known to the Jewish community s leadership However the Japanese had no intention of further provoking the anger of the Allies after their already notorious invasion of China and their additional invasion of a number of other Asian nations so they delayed the German request until the War ended With the intercession of the Amshenower Rebbe and the translation skills of Leo Ariyeh Hanin the Japanese ultimately kept the Jews of Shanghai safe 60 In general in the period from 1845 to 1945 more than 40 000 Jews came to China to do business or in search of a safe haven 61 Late 20th century Edit After World War II and the establishment of the PRC in 1949 most of these Jews emigrated to Israel or the West although a few remained Three prominent non Chinese lived in China from the establishment of the People s Republic of China to the contemporary period Sidney Shapiro Israel Epstein and Ruth Weiss two American emigres and one Austrian emigre are of Jewish descent Another Jewish American Sidney Rittenberg served as interpreter to many top Chinese officials Structured Jewish life returned to Beijing in 1979 with the founding of Kehillat Beijing an egalitarian lay led community serving ex patriate Jews from all over the world Sara Imas the Shanghai born daughter of Shanghai s Jewish Club president Leiwi Imas became the first Chinese Jewish immigrant to Israel after the two countries established formal diplomatic relations in 1992 Leiwi Imas who had to leave Germany for Poland in 1939 arrived in Shanghai the same year He spent his final years in Shanghai until 1962 prior to the beginning of the Cultural Revolution Although Sara Imas s non Chinese appearance and family background brought her much trouble during the Cultural Revolution when she was accused of being a foreign capitalist and spy today Sara Imas has returned to Shanghai working as the Chinese representative of an Israeli diamond company 62 better source needed On June 27 1985 an international group of scholars and activists gathered in Palo Alto California to establish the Sino Judaic Institute 63 Rabbi Anson Laytner serves as the incumbent president 64 The Institute of Jewish Studies was established at Nanjing University in 1992 65 Since the 1990s the Shanghai municipal government has taken the initiative to preserve historical Western architectures that were constructed during Shanghai s colonial past Many formerly Jewish owned hotels and private residence have been included in the preservation project In 1997 the Kadoorie residence turned Shanghai Children s Palace had their spacious front garden largely removed in order to make room for the city s overpass system under construction A One Day Tour of the history of Jewish presence in Shanghai can be arranged through the Center of Jewish Studies Shanghai 66 Rabbi Shalom Greenberg from Chabad Lubavitch in New York City arrived in Shanghai to serve this community in August 1998 Rabbi Arthur Schneier president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation of New York donated a Torah to the community that same year On the first day of Rosh Hashanah in September 1999 a Jewish New Year service was held at the Ohel Rachel Synagogue for the first time since 1952 67 21st century Edit As of 2010 it is estimated that 2 000 to 3 000 Jews lived in Shanghai citation needed In May 2010 the Ohel Rachel Synagogue in Shanghai was temporarily reopened to the local Jewish community for weekend services 68 Synagogues are found in Beijing Shanghai and Hong Kong serving both native Chinese Jews Israelis and diaspora Jewish communities across the world 69 In 2001 Rabbi Shimon Freundlich from the Chabad Lubavitch movement came and settled in Beijing with the mission of building and leading the Chabad Lubavitch Centre of Beijing 67 Kehillat Beijing continues its practice of conducting weekly lay led Shabbat services regular holiday observance and community activities including retreats and celebrations In 2007 the Sephardic community of Shanghai opened a synagogue study hall kosher kitchen and educational classes for children and adults The community has its own hacham who functions as a teacher and chazan in addition to Rabbi Ephraim Bezalel who manages local community affairs and kashrut needs 70 Since a significant amount of Chinese food products and food ingredients are exported to the American market a number of kosher certification agencies send rabbis to China to serve as kosher inspectors mashgichim As of 2009 over 50 mashgichim have been stationed in China 7 of them from the Orthodox Union 71 As of 2019 Harbin could claim a single Jewish inhabitant professor Dan Ben Canaan who helped advise the local government on restoring the city s synagogues and other Jewish related buildings 72 Kaifeng s Jewish community has reported increasing suppression by the authorities since 2015 reversing the modest revival it experienced in the 1990s The observance of public religious services and the celebration of religious festivals like Passover and Sukkot have been prohibited and Jewish community groups have been shut down Signs have been removed from the Kaifeng Synagogue a historical site located on Teaching the Torah Lane that is now under strict surveillance 73 A small number of Chinese Jews have succeeded in making aliyah and immigrating to Israel with the help of private organisations such as Shavei Israel Notable Chinese born people of Jewish ancestry EditSong Dandan an actress who often appears in the Chinese New Year s Gala on CCTV Stanley Ho founder and Chairman of SJM Holdings which owns nineteen casinos in Macau including the Grand Lisboa nicknamed variously Godfather and King of Gambling reflecting the government granted monopoly he held on the Macau gambling industry for 75 years Josie Ho Stanley Ho s daughter who is of Dutch Jewish ancestry Hong Kong based actress Sun Zhenni a member of SNH48 Laurence Tribe an American professor of constitutional law born to European Jewish parents Ron Klinger an Australian leading English language bridge writer born in Shanghai to European Jewish parents Mike Medavoy an American film producer of Ukrainian Jewish descent Zhao Yingcheng a Ming Dynasty official from the 17th century member of the Kaifeng Jewish community Sir Michael David Kadoorie a Hong Kong billionaire businessman and the chairman and 18 owner of CLP GroupSee also Edit nbsp China portal nbsp Judaism portalAntisemitism in China Chinese people in Israel History of the Jews in Hong Kong History of the Jews in Taiwan Kaifeng Jews Ten Lost Tribes People s Republic of China Israel relations Religion in China Freedom of religion in China Shanghai GhettoReferences EditCitations Edit Jewish Population of the World Jewish Virtual Library Retrieved 3 April 2022 Wald Shalom Salomon 2004 China and the Jewish People Jerusalem The Jewish People Planning Policy Institute GefenPublishing House p 83 ISBN 965 229 347 4 David Selbourne The City of Light Abacus London 1998 ISBN 978 0 349 10895 7 Spence Jonathan October 19 1997 Leaky Boat to China The New York Times Mark Honigsbaum Chinese fake away The Spectator October 25 1997 J R S Philips The Medieval Expansion of Europe Oxford University Press 1998 p 289 ISBN 978 0 19 820740 5 David L Gold A Fresh Essay on Duty and Responsibility 2008 PDF Archived from the original PDF on 2010 08 05 Retrieved 2009 06 15 Lieberman Phillip I ed 2021 The Cambridge History of Judaism Volume 5 Jews in the Medieval Islamic World Cambridge University Press ISBN 9781009038591 the Jewish presence in the city predates this year 242 According to the 1489 inscription the founders of the Kaifeng while others state that the Jews of Beijing and Nanjing converted to Islam 249 The same Ricci was the first to Ehrlich M Avrum Liang Pingan 2008 Part V KAIFENG JEWISH DESCENDANTS 14 THE CONTEMPORARY CONDITION OF THE JEWISH DESCENDANTS OF KAIFENG In Ehrlich M Avrum ed The Jewish Chinese Nexus A Meeting of Civilizations Routledge Jewish Studies Series illustrated ed Routledge p 194 ISBN 978 1134105533 Out of the seven original clans of Kaifeng Jews the Zhang clan was said to have converted to Islam in the beginning of the twentieth century with the decline of the community and the problems in that period of China s history Dubov Kalman Journey to the People s Republic of China Review amp Analysis Kalman Dubov Most of the Zhang converted to Islam Jews who managed the synagogues were called mullahs A high number of Kaifeng Jews passed the difficult Chinese Civil Service examination during the Ming Dynasty Four inscriptions from 1489 1512 Goldstein Jonathan ed 1998 The Jews of China M E Sharpe p 119 ISBN 076563631X A 1757 regulation in the Paradesi record book stated If an Israelite or a ger apparently a convert from outside Cochin marries a woman from the daughters of the mshuchrarim the sons who are born to them go after the Goldstein Jonathan Schwartz Benjamin I 2015 The Jews of China v 1 Historical and Comparative Perspectives illustrated ed Routledge ISBN 978 1317456049 Some ancestor rituals may still be carried out by Kaifeng Jewish descent groups today it is hoped that ongoing a convert from outside Cochin marries a woman from the daughters of the mshuchrarim the sons who are born to them Baron Salo Wittmayer 1952 A Social and Religious History of the Jews Late Middle Ages and the era of European expansion 1200 1650 A Social and Religious History of the Jews Vol 18 Columbia University Press p 617 ISBN 0231088558 Characteristically however the Jewish people did not observe special memorial days for most of its ancient and No one seems to have seriously questioned the permissibility of the Kaifeng Jews marrying more than one wife Leslie Donald Daniel 2017 INTEGRATION ASSIMILATION AND SURVIVAL OF MINORITIES IN CHINA THE CASE OF THE KAIFENG JEWS In Malek Roman ed From Kaifeng to Shanghai Jews in China Routledge p 68 ISBN 978 1351566292 In any case the Kaifeng Jews did not stand out as an exotic community for there were a large number of Muslims there and they did not intermarry 93 According to most authorities many Jews finally assimilated to Islam Shapiro Sidney 2001 Jews in Old China Studies by Chinese Scholars Hippocrene Books p 233 ISBN 0781808332 Muslim religious strictures required anyone whether man or woman who married a Muslim to convert to Islam An San a Kaifeng Jew was awarded a rank of Third Grade because of services he had rendered to the court followers were not assimilated into the Han population Jews who married Muslims had to embrace Islam This is one of the reasons the Jews were assimilated Benjamin Isadore Schwartz Frank Joseph Shulman 1999 Goldstein Jonathan ed The Jews of China Historical and comparative perspectives East Gate book Vol 1 Armonk NY M E Sharpe p 119 ISBN 0765601036 A 1757 regulation in the Paradesi record book stated If an Israelite or a ger apparently a convert from outside Cochin marries a woman from the daughters of the mshuchrarim the sons who are born to them go after the Points East Volumes 1 7 Sino Judaic Institute 1986 p 8 Even the first generation of a mixed marriage will often find the offspring only too happy to escape into the non Though the Jews converted to Islam they apparently retained a Jewish coloration much like Jews to convert to Michael Pollak Bet ha tefutsot 1984 קהילת קאפינג Chinese Jews on the Banks of the Yellow River The Jews of Kaifeng Tel Aviv Israel Bet Hatefutsoth The Nahum Goldman Museum of the Jewish Diaspora The community was also weakened by repeated natural military and economic catastrophes that Kaifeng experienced over the centuries Fire and flood took their toll a b c Eikenburg Jocelyn February 28 2011 Are Jewish Women More Likely to Marry Chinese Men Speaking of China The Truth About Matrilineal Descent NOVA Online Lost Tribes of Israel Where are the Ten Lost Tribes 3 Pbs org Retrieved 2017 07 18 a b Weisz Tiberiu The Kaifeng Stone Inscriptions The Legacy of the Jewish Community in Ancient China New York iUniverse 2006 ISBN 0 595 37340 2 Alfred Edelsheim History of the Jewish Nation after the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus Kessinger Publishing 2004 p 71 ISBN 1 4179 1234 0 Pan Guang 2005 The Jews in China p 22 ISBN 9787508507507 a b Marshall Broomhall 1910 Islam in China A Neglected Problem Morgan amp Scott Limited p 176 Catholic Encyclopedia Marshall Broomhall 1910 Islam in China A Neglected Problem Morgan amp Scott Limited pp 176 177 Xu Xin The Jews of Kaifeng China History Culture and Religion p 153 Ktav Publishing House Inc 2003 ISBN 0 88125 791 5 ISBN 978 0 88125 791 5 Encyclopedia of Diasporas Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World Vol I Jewish Diaspora in China by Xu Xin p 153 Ember Melvin Ember Carol R Skoggard Ian Eds Springer 2004 ISBN 0 306 48321 1 Gabriel Ferrand ed 1922 Voyage du marchand arabe Sulayman en Inde et en Chine redige en 851 suivi de remarques par Abu Zayd Hasan vers 916 Paris Editions Bossard p 76 Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman Donald N Yates 29 April 2014 The Early Jews and Muslims of England and Wales A Genetic and Genealogical History McFarland pp 51 ISBN 978 0 7864 7684 8 Mark Aurel Stein Sir Aurel Stein 1907 Ancient Khotan Detailed Report of Archaeological Explorations in Chinese Turkestan Clarendon Press pp 572 Michael Dillon 1999 China s Muslim Hui community migration settlement and sects Richmond Curzon Press p 24 ISBN 0 7007 1026 4 Retrieved 2010 06 28 Johan Elverskog 2010 Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road illustrated ed University of Pennsylvania Press p 228 ISBN 978 0 8122 4237 9 Retrieved 2010 06 28 halal chinggis khan you are our slaves Donald Daniel Leslie 1998 The Integration of Religious Minorities in China The Case of Chinese Muslims PDF The Fifty ninth George Ernest Morrison Lecture in Ethnology p 12 Archived from the original PDF on November 24 2010 Retrieved 30 November 2010 M Avrum Ehrlich Ed The Jewish Chinese Nexus A Meeting of Civilizations Routledge UK 2008 ISBN 978 0 415 45715 6 Chang Hsiang Wen 1945 An Early Chinese Source on the Kaifeng Jewish Community Folklore Studies 4 327 331 doi 10 2307 3182906 JSTOR 3182906 A Visit to Kaifeng by Beverly Friend Ph D Kaifeng Jewish Descendants Archived from the original on 2009 10 29 Retrieved 2009 06 01 a b De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas Book One Chapter 11 Pages 107 111 in the English translation Gallagher 1953 China in the Sixteenth Century The Journals of Matteo Ricci Random House New York 1953 The Latin original text De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas suscepta ab Societate Jesu can be found on Google Books The corresponding text is on pages 131 and onward of Book One of the Latin text Chinese and Japanese repository of facts and events in science history and art relating to Eastern Asia Volume 1 s n 1863 p 48 Retrieved 2011 07 06 Chinese and Japanese repository of facts and events in science history and art relating to Eastern Asia Volume 1 s n 1863 p 18 Retrieved 2011 07 06 Chinese and Japanese repository of facts and events in science history and art relating to Eastern Asia Volume 1 s n 1863 p 49 Retrieved 2011 07 06 Sir Thomas Walker Arnold 1896 The preaching of Islam a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith A Constable and co p 249 Retrieved 2011 05 29 muslim community added to its numbers accession chinese jews converted islam Kupfer 2008 p 47 Later in the 19th and 20th centuries it is likely as suggested by many scholars that several of the Kaifeng Jews did convert to Islam rather than simply being swallowed up in the Buddhist or Confucian multitude Today a number of Muslims and possibly non Muslims have discovered that their ancestors were Kaifeng Jews 108 108 Jin Xiaojing 金效靜 1981 translated in Points East 1 1 Jan 1986 1 4 5 She discovered she was of Jewish descent when on the hajj to Mecca 金效静 中国的犹太人 J 社会科学战线 1981年04期 Kupfer 2008 p 196 Islamic works translated into Chinese played a very important role in the popularization of Islam At the same time many Jews who did not like to abandon their tradition converted to Islam and were known as the Huihui with blue hats A 藍帽回回 The missionary work of Christians from the beginning of the 17th century and the Chinese Bible did not affect them Kupfer 2008 p 106 Others said he may indeed be from the Zhang clan but that the clan one of the Seven Surnames had apparently converted to Islam over a century ago Kupfer 2008 p 18 26 Some of those who converted to Islam like the Zhang family still seem to cherish this past as well and consider themselves as fake Moslems This has been confirmed by Zhang Qianhong and Li Jingwen in Some Observations 2000 p 165 Kupfer 2008 p 48 This also involves a difficult study of the relations that existed between the Kaifeng Jews and Muslims there A number of Jewish descendants converted to Islam rather than melting into the general populations What is their attitude to Judaism now Kupfer 2008 p 50 It is clear from Shi s later descriptions that many of the tombstones he saw were Muslim rather than Jewish though one he claimed read Religion of Israel in Hebrew In Hangzhou according to Ricci in 1608 there had been a synagogue We can only wonder whether the Jews there had a separate cemetery of their own or were accepted by the Muslims in their special cemetery Walgrove Amanda March 25 2011 Jewish History in China Boosting Sino Israeli Relations Moment Stopping the crackdown on China s Jews Opinion Jerusalem Post Jpost com 2016 09 08 Retrieved 2017 07 18 Encyclopedia of Diasporas Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World Vol I Jewish Diaspora in China by Xu Xin p 159 Ember Melvin Ember Carol R Skoggard Ian Eds Springer 2004 ISBN 0 306 48321 1 Patrick Fuliang Shan A Proud and Creative Jewish Community The Harbin Diaspora Jewish Memory and Sino Israeli Relations American Review of China Studies Fall 2008 pp 15 29 Berton Peter The Evolution of Sino Israeli Relations Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs Vol IV No 3 September 2010 pp 69 80 Shanghai Jews as seen by Chinese Adam Minter January 15 2006 Return of a Shanghai Jew Los Angeles Times Former Jewish refugees revisit Shanghai Ark People s Daily Xinhua November 11 2005 Tokayer Marvin Swartz Mary 2004 05 31 The Fugu Plan The Untold Story of the Japanese and the Jews During World War II Gefen Publishing House Ltd ISBN 9789652293299 Encyclopedia of Diasporas Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World Vol I Jewish Diaspora in China by Xu Xin p 155 Ember Melvin Ember Carol R Skoggard Ian Eds Springer 2004 ISBN 0 306 48321 1 A Chinese Jew s tale of adversity and triumph The Sino Judaic Institute www sino judaic org Retrieved 2020 09 02 The Sino Judaic Institute www sino judaic org Retrieved 2020 09 02 Religion Journal A Professor in Nanjing Takes Up Jewish Studies by Gustav Niebuhr New York Times March 13 2007 full text One Day Private Shanghai Jewish Culture Tour Archived 2019 01 19 at the Wayback Machine a b Encyclopedia of Diasporas Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World Vol I Jewish Diaspora in China by Xu Xin p 162 Ember Melvin Ember Carol R Skoggard Ian Eds Springer 2004 ISBN 0 306 48321 1 Shanghai s Jews celebrate historic synagogue reopening Archived from the original on 2010 09 08 Retrieved 2011 01 27 Synagogues in China Jewish Community Shanghai Marx Patricia 2009 01 05 Kosher Takeout Supervising a food production boom The New Yorker Dara Horn s Cities of Ice A Dispatch From Frozen Harbin Where Jews Once Flourished and Melted Away Tablet Magazine 2019 04 19 Retrieved 2019 10 12 Miller Dr Yvette Alt 2016 10 04 China s Crackdown on the Jewish Community of Kaifeng aishcom Retrieved 2020 12 09 Sources Edit Works citedKupfer Peter ed 2008 Youtai Presence and Perception of Jews and Judaism in China FASK Publikationen des Fachbereichs Angewandte Sprach und Kulturwissenschaft der Johannes Gutenberg Universitat Mainz in Germersheim Abhandlungen und Sammelbande Vol 47 Universitat Mainz ISBN 978 3631575338 ISSN 0941 9543 Loewe Michael 1988 The Jewish Presence in Imperial China Jewish Historical Studies 30 1 20 JSTOR 29779835 General references nbsp This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain Singer Isidore et al eds 1901 1906 China The Jewish Encyclopedia New York Funk amp Wagnalls nbsp This article incorporates text fromChinese and Japanese repository of facts and events in science history and art relating to Eastern Asia Volume 1 a publication from 1863 now in the public domain in the United States nbsp This article incorporates text fromThe preaching of Islam a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith by Sir Thomas Walker Arnold a publication from 1896 now in the public domain in the United States Further reading EditAdler Marcus N Chinese Jews The Jewish Quarterly Review 13 1 1900 18 41 online Eber Irene and Kathryn Hellerstein eds Jews in China Cultural Conversations Changing Perceptions 2021 excerpt Ehrlich M Avrum Jews and Judaism in modern China Routledge 2009 Finn James The Jews in China Their Synagogue Their Scriptures Their History 1843 very old guide online Katz Yossi The Jews of China and their Contribution to the Establishment of the Jewish National Home in Palestine in the First Half of the Twentieth Century Middle Eastern Studies 46 4 2010 543 554 Kaufman Jonathan The Last Kings of Shanghai The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China 2021 excerpt Laytner Anson and Jordan Paper The Chinese Jews of Kaifeng A Millennium of Adaptation and Endurance Lexington Books 2017 Loewe Michael 1988 The Jewish Presence in Imperial China Jewish Historical Studies 30 1 20 JSTOR 29779835 Loewenthal Rudolf The nomenclature of Jews in China Monumenta Serica 12 1 1947 97 126 Malek Roman From Kaifeng to Shanghai Jews in China Routledge 2017 Neubauer Adolf Jews in China The Jewish Quarterly Review 8 1 1895 123 139 online Paper Jordan The Theology of the Kaifeng Jews 1000 1850 Wilfrid Laurier UP 2012 Perlmann S M The History of the Jews in China R Mazin 1913 online Pollack Michael Mandarins Jews and Missionaries the Jewish experience in the Chinese Empire New York Weatherhill 1998 ISBN 978 0 8348 0419 7 Wald Shalom Salomon China and the Jewish People 2004 White William Charles Chinese Jews 2nd ed Paragon 1966 Xu Xin The Jews of Kaifeng China History Culture and Religion 2003 online Xun Zhou Chinese Perceptions of the Jews and Judaism A History of the Youtai Routledge 2013 Zane Nicholas Jews in China A History of Struggle 2019 excerptHistoriography and Memory Edit Goldstein Jonathan and Benjamin I Schwartz The Jews of China v 1 Historical and Comparative Perspectives Routledge 2015 Goldstein Jonathan The Jews of China v 2 A Sourcebook and Research Guide Routledge 2018 online Raiskin Shlomy A Bibliography on Chinese Jewry Moreshet Israel Journal of Judaism Zionism and Eretz Israel No 3 September 2006 pp 60 85 Ross James R et al eds The Image of Jews in Contemporary China 2019 excerpt Shapiro Sidney Jews in Old China Studies by Chinese Scholars Hippocrene Books 1984 online Shulman Frank Joseph The Chinese Jews and the Jewish Diasporas in China from the Tang Period AD 618 906 through the Mid 1990s A Selected Bibliography The Jews of China Routledge 2018 pp 157 183 Song Lihong From Jews in China to Jews and China Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 17 4 2018 487 495 External links EditSchnorientalism The Tao of Jews The Jewish Forward Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title History of the Jews in China amp oldid 1178363439, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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