History of the Jews in China

Chinese Jews
中国犹太人
יהודים סיניים‬
Total population
2,500
0.00018 percent of the Chinese population (2014)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Kaifeng, Shanghai, Beijing, Harbin, Tianjin
Languages
Hebrew, English, Chinese
Religion
Judaism · Chinese folk religion
Related ethnic groups
Han Chinese
Ashkenazi Jews • Sephardi Jews • Mizrahi Jews
other Jewish ethnic divisions

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.

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 through the Tang and Song Dynasties (7th to 13th centuries CE) all the way through the Qing Dynasty (19th century), most notably the Kaifeng Jews (the term "Chinese Jews" is often used in a restricted sense in order to refer to these communities). Unlike other places, the Chinese authorities had tremendous respect for Jewish communities and they did not face significant anti-Semitism in comparison to Europe and America.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Jewish merchants from around the world began to trade in Chinese ports, particularly in the commercial centers 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 the 1917 Russian Revolution arrived in China. By the time of the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, only a few Chinese Jews were known to have maintained the practice of their religion and culture though the Kaifeng synagogue survived for around seven centuries until 1860. China's Jewish communities have been ethnically diverse ranging from the Jews of Kaifeng and other places during the history of Imperial China, who, it is reported, came to be more or less totally assimilated into the majority Han Chinese populace due to widespread intermarriage.[2][3] In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, however, some international Jewish groups have helped Chinese Jews rediscover their Jewish heritage and reconnect with their Jewish roots.[4]

Though Israel established diplomatic relations with China in 1992, the ties between the Chinese and Jewish peoples remain centuries old in addition to Israel and China being products of ancient civilizations dating back thousands of years.[5][6][7][8] The cultural similarities between the Chinese and Jewish civilizations with both nations originating thousands of years ago have drawn the two countries closer together making the two countries natural partners on the international stage.

Jews remain a small minority in China, but unlike Jewish communities in many other parts of the world, Jews have historically lived in China without any instances of antisemitism from the Han majority populace contributing to mutual respect and admiration between the two peoples.[5][2][9][10] Modern Han Chinese have developed a favorable view of Jews, admiring them for their contributions to humanity, their ability to survive, the sharing of Chinese values such as family, frugality, hard work and education, and being products of ancient civilizations have been an impetus towards the long and enduring friendship between the Chinese and Jewish peoples.[6][5][7][5][2][11] With the intrinsic affinity that the Chinese people feel for the Jews, relations between the two communities have been mutually close, harmonious and friendly, due to shared common cultural similarities between the two peoples which has resulted in Jews enjoying equal rights and coexisting peacefully alongside the mainstream Han Chinese populace with instances of Jews assimilating into the Han Chinese community through intermarriage.[2][12][3][13][14] Shared affinities and similar cultural commonalities has not only been an impetus for the close bonds between China and Israel but has also created a symbol of brotherhood between the two communities.[6][11][15]

Overview

China’s first contact with the Jewish people came as a result of the development of the Silk Road, an ancient trade route linking China with the Middle East and Europe that was created during the Han Dynasty in 206 BCE and incorporated existing trade routes that were established 200 years earlier by the Persian Achaemenid Empire.[16] The first wave of Jews to China traveled from West Asia over the Silk Road and by sea via India during the Tang dynasty (618 – 907 CE). They consisted of Babylonian and Persian Jews (modern day Iraq and Iran) who traveled along the Silk Road and received the Tang Emperor’s blessing to reside in Kaifeng.[4] They eventually formed a distinct Kaifeng Jewish Community during the Song Dynasty where many eventually became prominent government officials, doctors, rabbis, and businessmen. They eventually assimilated into Chinese culture, learned the language, and began to intermarry with the Han populace.[2] Other Western scholars speculate that the first wave of Jewish settlement in China may have arrived even earlier during the Later Han dynasty (25 – 220 CE), which coincides with the Roman persecution of Judean Jews after the Roman destroyed the Temple at Jerusalem in 70 CE.[17] The presence of a community of Jewish immigrants in China is consistent with the history of the Jewish people during the first and second millennia CE, which saw them disperse and settle throughout the Eurasian landmass, with an especially large concentration of Jews settling throughout Central Asia.[18] By 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.[19] 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,[20] although some authors question its veracity.[21][22][23][24]

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 Sephardic 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 volume of 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.

Over the centuries, the Kaifeng community came to be virtually indistinguishable from the Han Chinese population and is not 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 local Han population.[3] 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.[25][3]

Today, many descendants of the Jews have assimilated into the majority Han Chinese 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.

The study of Judaism in China has been, like other Abrahamic religions, a subject of interest to some Westerners, and has achieved moderate success compared to other Western studies in China.

History

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.[26]

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).[27]

Origins

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).[28] Writing in 1900, Father Joseph Brucker hypothesized that Jews came to China from India by a sea route during the Song dynasty between 960 and 1126.

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.[27]

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.

Section of the 1512 stele which mentions Yue's famous tattoo.

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, and Ningxia.[29]

Names

The contemporary term for Jews in use among Chinese today is Youtairen (Chinese: 猶太人; pinyin: Yóutài Rén) in Mandarin Chinese. The term Youtai has 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,"[30] probably referring to the Jewish dietary prohibition against eating the sciatic nerve (from Genesis 32:32).[31]

Jewish dietary law (kashruth), 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, as Chinese culture is typically very free in the range of items it deems suitable for food.

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.[30] The distinction between Muslim and Jewish Hui is not, and historically has not been, well recognised by the dominant Han population.

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 礼拜寺 and qīngzhēnsì 清真寺 were used as names of both synagogues and mosques by Jews and Muslims.[32]

According to an oral tradition dictated by Xu Xin, Director of the Center 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".

Early record

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.[33][34] 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.[35]

China was a destination for Radhanite Jews who brought boys, female slaves and eunuchs from Europe according to the Book of Roads and Kingdoms by ibn Khordadbeh.[36] At Dandan Oilik an 8th-century document written in Judeo-Persian was found and translated by Aurel Stein.[37]

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.[38][39]

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.

[40]

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), Gan (甘), Jin (金), Li (李), Zhang (張), and Zhao (趙).[41][42] Two of these, Jin and Shi, are the equivalent of common Jewish names in the west: Gold and Stone.[43][44]

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.[45] Ricci sent an ethnic Chinese Jesuit Lay Brother to visit Kaifeng;[45] 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.[46]

The Chinese called Muslims, Jews, and Christians in ancient times by the same name, "Hui Hui" (Hwuy-hwuy). Crossworshipers (Christians) were called "Hwuy 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.[47]

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.[48]

Employment

Various Jewish Chinese individuals worked in government service and owned big properties in China in the 17th century.[49]

19th century

During the Taiping rebellion of the 1850s, the Jews of Kaifeng apparently suffered a great deal and were dispersed. Following this dislocation, they returned to Kaifeng, yet continued to be small in number and to face hardships, as is recorded in the early 20th century.

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

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).

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).

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,[50] 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.[51]

Dr. Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Republic of China, held admiration for 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."[52]

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.[53]

World War II

Another wave of 18,000 Jews from Germany, Austria, and Poland immigrated to Shanghai in the late 1930s and early 1940s.[54] 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".[55] 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.[56]

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.[57]

Late 20th century

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.[58]

The Institute of Jewish Studies was established at Nanjing University in 1992.[59]

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.[60] 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 first time since 1952.[61]

21st century

21st-century China's friendly embrace of the Jewish people on its soil has been one of affectionate sympathy as the modern Han Chinese have developed a favorable view of Jews, admiring them for their contributions to humanity, their ability to survive, the sharing of Chinese values such as family, frugality, hard work and education, and being products of ancient civilizations have been an impetus towards the long and enduring friendship between the Chinese and Jewish peoples.[6][5][7][5][2][11] Shared affinities and similar cultural commonalities has not only been an impetus for the close bonds between China and Israel but has also created a symbol of brotherhood between the two communities in the modern era.[6][11][15]

In modern times, relations between the Han Chinese and Jewish communities have been mutually close and friendly.[11][62] Chinese Jews have been a major impetus in maintaining the strong nexus between the Chinese and Jewish civilizations.[4][62][11] With shared common cultural similarities between the two peoples resulted Jews enjoying equal rights and coexisting peacefully alongside the mainstream Han Chinese populace with instances of Jews assimilating into the Han Chinese community through intermarriage.[7][11][62][63] Contemporary Chinese Jews remain a small minority in 21st-century China, but unlike many parts of the world, Jews have historically lived in China without any instances of antisemitism from the local Han majority populace.[5][2][9][10] Much of the highly educated Chinese populace favorably view Jews with high esteem and have exhibited philo-Semitic tendencies admiring and respecting the Jewish people contrasting the negatively stereotyped qualities frequently found in Western anti-Semitic literature.[64][6][65][66][17][67][68] Philo-semitic stereotypes held by the Chinese include the disproportionate amount of Jewish contributions to humanity, particularly the disproportionate number of Jewish Nobel prize winners in science and technology, and their link to Jewish modernization as well as the amount of "Jewish power” that permeates in many fields of endeavor, particularly in politics and the influence of the Israel lobby in the United States.[6][69] The Chinese also have a positive stereotype that Jews are clever, clannish, business savvy, and financially affluent.[64][12][7] Other stereotypes held in a positive light that modern Chinese have of the Jews include the Jews alleged dominance of business, the Federal Reserve, banks, global stock exchanges, and the world economy at large.[70] A pro-Jewish outlook has been observed among China's urban populace due to many shared similarities between Chinese and Jewish cultures.[71][72][3][66] The similarity between the Chinese and Jewish cultures lie deeply rooted in the Chinese Confucian doctrine embedded with cultural values such as the importance of a strong and stable family structure, dedication towards excellence, ethic of financial frugality, looking towards the future, hard work for the common good of society, reverence for intelligence, education, scholarship and learning, and a high respect for money and business acumen bear great affinities with the values and virtues of traditional Jewish orthodoxy.[73][2][7][11][62][74][75][76][66][77][12][3][13][14][78][79][80] Many contemporary Chinese are knowledgeable of the Jewish experiences in China who have exhibited pride of their country’s role in safeguarding Jewish refugees from Nazism during the Second World War.[81][82] These affectionately sympathetic attitudes arose largely due to the country's urban populace's proclivity towards philo-semitism and an admiration of Jewish business acumen, investment savvy and financial shrewdness.[64] The Chinese cultural notions toward money and wealth are similar to those of the Jews as both the Chinese and Jews view the acquisition and the building of wealth as a virtue.[64][83][84][13] Both cultures place a huge premium on the celebration of great wealth, riches, and financial success.[12] Since the economic liberalization of the country and in the wake of rapid economic growth, many Chinese have become intrigued with the question of achieving great wealth, finding a good job, employment success, marriage, retirement and other modern endeavors. A myriad of Jewish self-help and personal finance books on wealth building, entrepreneurship, investing, business success and succeeding financially can be found on every major Chinese city street bookstall. In addition, Jewish seminars on wealth building and business success are held in five and four-star hotels across big cities in China.[12] In particular, self-help business books on Jews and their purported connection to success in business are often best-sellers in China.[64][52][85][86][87][88]

Synagogues are found in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, serving both native Chinese Jews, Israelis and diaspora Jewish communities across the world.[89] In 2001, Rabbi Shimon Freundlich from the Chabad-Lubavitch movement came and settled in Beijing with the mission of building and leading the center of Chabad-Lubavitch of Beijing, an Orthodox congregation.[61] Kehillat Beijing continues its practice of conducting weekly lay-led Shabbat services, regular holiday observance, and community activities including retreats and celebrations.

In 2005, the Israeli embassy to China held their Hanukkah celebrations at the Great Wall of China.[90]

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.[91]

As of 2010, it is estimated that 2,000 to 3,000 Jews lived in Shanghai. In May 2010, the Ohel Rachel Synagogue in Shanghai was temporarily reopened to the local Jewish community for weekend services.[92]

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.[93]

Notable Chinese-born people of Jewish ancestry

  • Song Dandan, an actress who often appears in the Chinese New Year's Gala on CCTV.
  • Jiang Wenli, a famous TV series drama actress
  • Josie Ho, Stanley Ho's daughter, who has a Dutch Jewish bloodline. Hong Kong-based actress.
  • Sun Zhenni, an idol singer
  • Laurence Tribe, an American professor of constitutional law born to European Jewish parents
  • Mike Medavoy, an American film producer of Ukrainian Jewish descent
  • Zhao Yingcheng, a Ming Dynasty official from the 17th century, a member of the Kaifeng Jewish community.

See also

References

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "China". Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.
  •  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.
  1. ↑ "Jewish Population of the World". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Walgrove, Amanda (March 25, 2011). "Jewish History in China Boosting Sino-Israeli Relations". Moment.
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  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "China's ambassador to Israel, Zhao Jun, is in love". Zionist Council of NSW. September 30, 2010.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Khlystov, Yuri (June 29, 2016). "Similarities Between Chinese People and Jewish People". Lao Wai Career.
  8. ↑ Sebag-Montefiore, Clarissa (March 27, 2014). "The Chinese Believe That the Jews Control America. Is That a Good Thing?". Tablet Magazine.
  9. 1 2 "Revitalizing the silk route". Biubogrim.org.il. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
  10. 1 2 Olds, Dorri (March 23, 2015). "Israeli Woman in China Gets Respect, Not Anti-Semitism".
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Stop and smell the blossoming ties between Israel and China". Jewish News of Northern California. June 22, 2012.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Wald, Shalom Salomon (2004). China and the Jewish People. Jerusalem: The Jewish People Planning Policy Institute / GefenPublishing House. p. 63. ISBN 965-229-347-4.
  13. 1 2 3 "Common traits bind Jews and Chinese". Asia Times Online. Jan 10, 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  14. 1 2 "Common Traits Bind Jews and Chinese". Spengler.
  15. 1 2 Leichman, Abigail (May 30, 2011). "Noa – still searching for another way". Israel21C.
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  17. 1 2 "The Sino-Judaic Institute". Sino-judaic.org. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
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  20. ↑ David Selbourne. The City of Light. Abacus, London 1998. ISBN 978-0-349-10895-7
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  22. ↑ Mark Honigsbaum. Chinese fake away? The Spectator, October 25, 1997
  23. ↑ J.R.S. Philips. The Medieval Expansion of Europe. Oxford University Press, 1998, p.289. ISBN 978-0-19-820740-5
  24. ↑ David L. Gold. A Fresh Essay on Duty and Responsibility. 2008
  25. ↑ "The Truth About Matrilineal Descent"
  26. ↑ "NOVA Online | Lost Tribes of Israel | Where are the Ten Lost Tribes? (3)". Pbs.org. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
  27. 1 2 Weisz, Tiberiu. The Kaifeng Stone Inscriptions: The Legacy of the Jewish Community in Ancient China. New York: iUniverse, 2006 ( ISBN 0-595-37340-2)
  28. ↑ Alfred Edelsheim. History of the Jewish Nation after the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus. Kessinger Publishing, 2004, p. 71. ISBN 1-4179-1234-0
  29. ↑ Encyclopedia of Diasporas. Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World. Vol. I, Jewish Diaspora in China by Xu Xin, pp.153-154, Ember, Melvin; Ember, Carol R.; Skoggard, Ian (Eds.), Springer 2004 ISBN 0-306-48321-1
  30. 1 2 Marshall Broomhall (1910). Islam in China: A Neglected Problem. Morgan & Scott, Limited. p. 176.
  31. ↑ Catholic Encyclopedia.
  32. ↑ Marshall Broomhall (1910). Islam in China: A Neglected Problem. Morgan & Scott, Limited. pp. 176–177.
  33. ↑ 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
  34. ↑ 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
  35. ↑ 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). p. 76.
  36. ↑ 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.
  37. ↑ Mark Aurel Stein; Sir Aurel Stein (1907). Ancient Khotan: Detailed Report of Archaeological Explorations in Chinese Turkestan. Clarendon Press. pp. 572–.
  38. ↑ 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.
  39. ↑ Johan Elverskog (2010). Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road (illustrated ed.). University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 228. ISBN 0-8122-4237-8. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  40. ↑ 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.
  41. ↑ M. Avrum Ehrlich (Ed.). The Jewish-Chinese Nexus: A Meeting of Civilizations. Routledge, UK, 2008. ISBN 978-0-415-45715-6
  42. ↑ Chang, Hsiang Wen (1945). "An Early Chinese Source on the Kaifeng Jewish Community". Folklore Studies. 4: 327–331. JSTOR 3182906.
  43. ↑ A Visit to Kaifeng by Beverly Friend Ph.D.
  44. ↑ "Kaifeng Jewish Descendants". Archived from the original on 2009-10-29. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
  45. 1 2 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.
  46. ↑ 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.
  47. ↑ 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.
  48. ↑ 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.
  49. ↑ 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.
  50. ↑ 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
  51. ↑ 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.
  52. 1 2 Berton, Peter. The Evolution of Sino-Israeli Relations. Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, Vol. IV, No. 3. September 2010, pp. 69-80.
  53. ↑ Shanghai Jews as seen by Chinese
  54. ↑ Adam Minter (January 15, 2006). "Return of a Shanghai Jew". Los Angeles Times.
  55. ↑ "Former Jewish refugees revisit Shanghai Ark". People's Daily / Xinhua. November 11, 2005.
  56. ↑ 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.
  57. ↑ 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
  58. ↑ A Chinese Jew's tale of adversity and triumph
  59. ↑ "Religion Journal; A Professor in Nanjing Takes Up Jewish Studies" by Gustav Niebuhr New York Times, March 13, 2007. full text
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  65. ↑ Jaffay, Nathan (January 26, 2011). "The Chinese Discover Jews and Israel and Can't Seem To Get Enough". The Forward.
  66. 1 2 3 Bolton, Kerry (August 18, 2010). "Chinese TV Series Lauds Israel: The Alliance Between China and Zionism". Foreign Policy Journal.
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  74. ↑ Chua, Amy (2003). World On Fire. Knopf Doubleday Publishing. p. 83. ISBN 978-0385721868.
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  76. ↑ Buckley, Chris (September 25, 2016). "Jewish and Chinese: Explaining a Shared Identity".
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  82. ↑ Pohoryles, Yaniv (February 20, 2017). "The Jews and the Chinese: A connection between 'the world's most ancient people". Ynet. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  83. ↑ Chua, Amy (2003). World On Fire. Knopf Doubleday Publishing. p. 182. ISBN 978-0385721868.
  84. ↑ Chua, Amy (2003). World On Fire. Knopf Doubleday Publishing. p. 42. ISBN 978-0385721868.
  85. ↑ Fish, Issac (Dec 29, 2010). "Selling the Talmud as a Business Guide". Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  86. ↑ Cha, Ariana (February 7, 2007). "Sold on a Stereotype". The Washington Post.
  87. ↑ Goldfarb, Michael (February 8, 2014). "What Jews and the Chinese have in common". BBC News.
  88. ↑ Cha, Ariana (February 7, 2007). "Sold on a Stereotype". Washington Post.
  89. ↑ Synagogues in China
  90. ↑ China's Great Wall hosts Hanukkah celebration Archived 2006-08-14 at the Wayback Machine.
  91. ↑ Jewish Community Shanghai
  92. ↑ Shanghai's Jews celebrate historic synagogue reopening
  93. ↑ Marx, Patricia (2009-01-05), "Kosher Takeout: Supervising a food-production boom", The New Yorker
Works cited
  • Loewe, Michael (1988). "The Jewish Presence in Imperial China". Jewish Historical Studies. 30: 1–20. JSTOR 29779835.
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