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 T H E JE WI S H – C H I N E S E N E X U S

The Jewish–Chinese Nexus explores, through a collection of chapters, the

nexus between two of the oldest, intact, starkly contrasting and most inter-
esting civilizations on earth; Jews and Chinese. This volume studies how they
are interacting in modernity; how they view each other; what areas of
cooperation are evolving between their scholars, activists and politicians; and
what talents, qualities and social assets are being recognized on each side for
the purpose of cooperation and exchange.
Featuring contributions from some of the most important scholars and
activists from China and from around the Jewish Diaspora, the essays purview
China-related themes including the fascination of Chinese with Jews, and
Judaism and its potential value in Chinese national and religious reconstruction;
religious and ethnic identity; and East–West interactions. It deals with the
growing Jewish community in China and its impact, as well as the development
of Jewish studies in China and the translation of Jewish texts into Chinese and
their impact.
The work is a first of its kind, identifying an emerging meeting point between
these two peoples, and arguing that, despite the giant contrasts in their national
constructs, they have nonetheless other important patterns and themes in
common that pave the way for fruitful cooperation and mutual respect. As
such, it is indispensable for students of China as well as the Jewish Diaspora and
provides useful reading for Western tourists to China.

M. Avrum Ehrlich is a full professor of Jewish Thought at the Center of

Judaic and Inter-Religious Studies at the Department of Religion at Shandong
University, a government-funded national center for inter-religious research
in Jinan, China. Ehrlich is a theologian, social philosopher and scholar of
classic Jewish texts as well as being involved in training Chinese scholars to
understand and translate Jewish concepts and classics into Chinese.
 RO U T L E D G E J E W I S H S T U D I E S S E R I E S
Series Editor: Oliver Leaman
University of Kentucky
Studies which are interpreted to cover the disciplines of history, sociology,
anthropology, culture, politics, philosophy, theology, and religion, as they
relate to Jewish affairs. The remit includes texts that have as their primary
focus issues, ideas, personalities, and events of relevance to Jews, Jewish life,
and the concepts that have characterized Jewish culture both in the past and
today. The series is interested in receiving appropriate scripts or proposals.

ME D I E VA L J E W I S H P H I LO S O P H Y
An introduction
Dan Cohn-Sherbok

FAC I N G T H E OTH E R
The ethics of Emmanuel Levinas
Edited by Seán Hand

M O S E S MA I M O N I D E S
Oliver Leaman

A U S E R ’ S G U I D E T O F R A N Z RO S E N Z W E I G ’ S
STA R O F R E DE M P T IO N
Norbert M. Samuelson

O N L I B E RT Y
Jewish philosophical perspectives
Edited by Daniel H. Frank

REFERRING TO GOD
Jewish and Christian philosophical and theological perspectives
Edited by Paul Helm

J U DA I S M , P H I LO S O P H Y, C U LT U R E
Selected studies by E. I. J. Rosenthal
Erwin Rosenthal

P H ILO SO P H Y O F T H E TA L MU D
Hyam Maccoby
 F RO M S Y NAG O G U E T O C H U RC H
The traditional design: its beginning, its definition, its end
John Wilkinson

H ID DE N P H ILO SO P HY O F HA N NA H A R E N DT
Margaret Betz Hull

D EC O N S T RU C T I N G T H E B I B L E
Abraham ibn Ezra’s introduction to the Torah
Irene Lancaster

I M AGE O F TH E B L AC K I N J EW I SH C U LTU R E
A history of the other
Abraham Melamed

F RO M FA L A S H A S T O E T H I O P I A N J E W S
Daniel Summerfield

P H I LO S O P H Y I N A T I M E O F C R I S I S
Don Isaac Abravanel: defender of the faith
Seymour Feldman

JE W S, M U SL I M S A N D M A S S M E D I A
Mediating the ‘other’
Edited by Tudor Parfitt with Yulia Egorova

JEWS OF ETHIOPIA
The birth of an elite
Edited by Emanuela Trevisan Semi and Tudor Parfitt

A RT IN Z I O N
The genesis of national art in Jewish Palestine
Dalia Manor

H E B R E W L A N G UAG E A N D JE W I SH T H O U G H T
David Patterson

C O N TE M P O R A RY J E W I S H P H I LO S O P H Y
An introduction
Irene Kajon

A N T I S EM I T I S M A N D M O D E R N I T Y
Innovation and continuity
Hyam Maccoby
 J E WS A N D I N D I A
History, image, perceptions
Yulia Egorova

JE W I SH M YS T I C I S M A N D M AG I C
An anthropological perspective
Maureen Bloom

M A I M O N I D E S ’ GU IDE TO T HE PE R P LE X ED
Silence and salvation
Donald McCallum

M U S C U L A R J UDA I S M
The Jewish body and the politics of regeneration
Todd Samuel Presner

J EW I SH C U LTU R A L NAT IO NA L IS M
David Aberbach

THE JEWISH–CHINESE NEXUS

A meeting of civilizations
Edited by M. Avrum Ehrlich

G E R M A N – J E W I S H P O P U L A R C U LT U R E
B E F O R E T H E H O LO C AU S T
Kafka’s kitsch
David Brenner
 THE
JEWISH–CHINESE
NEXUS
A meeting of civilizations

Edited by M. Avrum Ehrlich

 First published 2008
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
# 2008 Editorial selection and matter, Avrum Ehrlich;
individual chapters, the contributors

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted

or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
The Jewish-Chinese nexus : a meeting of civilizations / edited by M.
Avrum Ehrlich.
p. cm. – (Routledge Jewish studies series ; 26)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Jews–China–History. 2. China–Ethnic relations. I. Ehrlich, Avrum M.
DS135.C5J46 2008
305.892’4051–dc22
2007048949
ISBN 0-203-89558-4 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN10: 0-415-45715-7 (hbk)

ISBN10: 0-203-89558-4 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-45715-6 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-89558-0 (ebk)
 CONTENTS

Contributors x
Chronology of the Jewish–Chinese Nexus xvi
Foreword and Acknowledgements xxiii
Introduction to the Jewish–Chinese Nexus xxvii
Map of China 1 xxxii
Map of China 2 xxxiii

Part I
Contemporary Jews in China 1

1 Overview of the Jewish Presence in Contemporary China 3

M. AVRUM EHRLICH

2 China’s Realities from the Viewpoints of ‘‘Foreign Experts’’ 16

MATTHIAS MESSMER

3 Contemporary Development of Jewish Life in Asia: A Personal

Memoir 41
DAVID C. BUXBAUM

Part II
Comparative Culture and Thought 47

4 Crossing Boundaries Between Confucianism and Judaism 49

GALIA PATT-SHAMIR AND YAOV RAPOPORT

5 Confucianism and Judaism: a Dialogue in Spite of Differences 61

GALIA PATT-SHAMIR

6 Judaism and its Referential Value to the Cultural Reconstruction

of Modern China 72
FU YOUDE

vii
 CONTENTS

7 Rethinking the Nanjing Massacre and its Connection with the

Holocaust 82
ZHANG QIANHONG AND JERRY GOTEL

Part III
Chinese Perceptions of Jews 95

8 A Chinese Perspective of Judaism and the Jewish People 97

FU YOUDE

9 Israel and the Jewish People in Chinese Cyberspace

Since 2002 103
ZHANG PING

10 The Influence of Jewish Literature in China 118

FU XIAOWEI AND WANG YI

Part IV
Jewish Studies and Literature 133

11 Australian Jewry, its Relations with China and the First Steps in
Jewish Studies 135
SOL ENCEL AND SUZANNE D. RUTLAND

12 The Developing Role of the Hebrew Bible in Modern China 152

YIYI CHEN

13 Modern Hebrew Literature in China 164

ZHONG ZHIQING

Part V
Kaifeng Jewish Descendents 173

14 The Contemporary Condition of the Jewish Descendants of

Kaifeng 175
M. AVRUM EHRLICH AND LIANG PINGAN

15 Chinese Government Policy Towards the Descendants of the

Jews of Kaifeng 197
XU XIN

16 The Judaism of the Kaifeng Jews and Liberal Judaism

in America 207
ANSON LAYTNER

viii
 CONTENTS

Part VI
Phenomena of the Jewish–Chinese Nexus 225

17 The Adoption of Chinese Children by Jewish Families and the

Effect on North American Jewish Identity 227
DAVID STRAUB

Part VII
China–Israel Relations 237

18 Sino–Israel Relations at the Start of the Second Decade: A View

from Shanghai and Jerusalem 239
ILAN MAOR

19 Economic and Cultural Relations Between China and Israel Since

the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations in 1992 253
JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN

20 China’s Potential Contribution to Middle East Cooperation 268

LIANG PINGAN

Bibliography 279
Index 284

ix
 C O N T R I BUT O R S

M. Avrum Ehrlich is a full professor at the Center of Judaic and Inter-Religious

Studies at the Department of Religion at Shandong University, a gov-
ernment-funded national center for inter-religious research in Jinan,
China. Ehrlich is a theologian, social philosopher and scholar of Judaism
and is involved in training Chinese scholars to understand Jewish texts
and concepts. He teaches text-based courses in The Philosophy of the
Hebrew Scriptures, Introductory Studies in Halakha and Talmud, and
Readings in Jewish Mysticism in addition to Biblical Hebrew.
His general research subjects include Jewish leadership and transgenera-
tion transfer of authority and ideas, the governing mechanics of religions
and messianism in Judaism and Christianity, and he is extending his
interest to Chinese thought and religion. Ehrlich studied talmudics and
theological studies in Israel where he was ordained a rabbi and read
Jewish Philosophy and Political Science at Bar Ilan University. He com-
pleted his doctorate on leadership strategies of Hasidic masters at the
University of Sydney and was awarded the British Commonwealth
Scholarship and the Chevening Scholarship to pursue post-doctoral studies
at the department of Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge Uni-
versity and the Krytman scholarship to research at the Cambridge-based
Center of Jewish–Christian Relations. He remains a life member of Clare
Hall Cambridge. He is author of a number of books on Hasidism, articles
on Jewish mysticism, religious sects, biblical commentaries, ethics and
politics. He is editor-in-chief of the three volume Encyclopedia of the
Jewish Diaspora (2008).
David C. Buxbaum has lived, researched and worked in Singapore, Taiwan,
Hong Kong and Mainland China for over 40 years. His academic career
includes a position at the University of Singapore Law Faculty in 1963, a
Fulbright fellow in Taiwan, and research at Academica Sinica. He com-
pleted his Ph.D. in law and practices as a lawyer and legal consultant and
was an associate professor at the law school of the University of Seattle. He
was posted to China and formally invited to work and represent business

x
 C O N T R I BU T O R S

interests there in 1972, becoming one of the first foreigners to enter China
during its opening up period towards the end of the Cultural Revolution.
Amongst other things, he consulted the Chinese government in construct-
ing a stable business and legal environment for itself and for foreign invest-
ment. Throughout this period, as an observant Jew, he maintained strong
ties with the various Jewish communities in the region.
Yiyi Chen is a faculty member at Peking University. His research includes
the Hebrew Bible in its Ancient near East context, Ancient Judaism and
early interactions between the near East and China, as well as the role of
the Bible in Chinese society. His book The Hebrew Bible, from Textual
and Archaeological Perspectives is the only systematic overview on the
subject written in Chinese. He is now working on an introductory text-
book for Chinese university students studying the Hebrew Bible. Before
joining Peking University, he worked as an IT manager in the Silicon
Valley. Chen holds a B.A. from Peking University and an M.A. and Ph.D.
from Cornell University.
Sol Encel was professor of sociology at the University of New South Wales
from 1966 to 1990. Since 1991, he has been Honorary Research Associ-
ate at the Social Policy Research Center, University of NSW and since
2004 at the University of Sydney. He has written or edited more than 20
books on a wide range of social and political issues. His most recent
publications include Continuity, Commitment and Survival, with Leslie
Stein (2003); and Longevity and Social Change in Australia, with Allan
Borowski and Elizabeth Ozanne (2007).
Fu Xiaowei, is a professor of Comparative Literature and Culture, and director
of the Center of Judaic and Chinese Studies at Sichuan International Stu-
dies University in Chongqing, China. She is the author of four books,
including What is God: Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Creation and his Reception
and Influence in China (2006). Her recent essays include: ‘‘Confusing Juda-
ism and Christianity in Contemporary Chinese Letters’’ (2006); ‘‘Misread-
ing, Intentional Fallacy and the Blind Worship of Western Literary
Theories’’ (2004); and ‘‘The Principle of Harmony without Uniformity and
Religious Compromises in European Integration’’ (forthcoming).
Fu Youde, is director of the Center for Judaic and Inter-Religious Studies
and former dean of the School of Philosophy and Social Development at
Shandong University in Jinan, China. He earned his M.A. at Shandong
University and Ph.D. at Beijing University and continued his research
and writing at Trinity College, Dublin; at Oxford Center for Hebrew and
Jewish Studies; and at Leo Baeck College, London. He was a visiting
professor at Case Western Reserve University, at Boston University and
other American academic institutions. Fu has held numerous notable
positions including chairman of the Academic Committee of the Humanities

xi
 C O N T R I BU T O R S

at Shandong University, the Philosophy Society of Shandong and Vice

Chair of the Society of Religion of Shandong. He is the author of many
books, over 50 articles, and is the coordinator and primary author of a
project to translate the great works of Jewish civilization and philosophy
into Chinese.
Jonathan Goldstein is a Research Associate of Harvard University’s Fair-
bank Center for East Asian Research and a Professor of East Asian his-
tory at the University of West Georgia. His books include Philadelphia
and the China Trade, 1682–1846 (1978), Georgia’s East Asian Connection:
into the Twenty-First Century (1990), America Views China (1991), China
and Israel (1999), and The Jews of China (2000).
Jerry Gotel is a Senior History Lecturer at London Jewish Cultural Center and
Director of Overseas Projects, mainly focusing on teacher training in East-
ern Europe. He received traditional Yeshiva education in 1953–1964, stu-
died at Yeshiva University for one year, graduated in 1968 from Brooklyn
College of the City University of N.Y. and has studied at Sorbonne, Pem-
broke College, and Oxford. He represents Great Britain on the Education
Committee of The International Task Force for Holocaust Education,
Remembrance, and Research and has received support from the task force
to hold three conferences in China on the Holocaust.
Rabbi Anson Laytner is currently the executive director of the Seattle
Chapter of the American Jewish Committee. As a volunteer, Laytner
serves as President of the Sino–Judaic Institute and edits its journal
Points East. He also is an adjunct professor with Seattle University’s
Department of Theology and Religious Studies. Previously, Laytner
served as the executive director of Multifaith Works and also headed the
Seattle Jewish Federation’s Community Relations Council. Laytner is the
author of Arguing with God, co-author of The Animals’ Lawsuit Against
Humanity, and has written over 70 articles on subjects ranging from
Jewish theology to the Arab–Israel conflict to the Chinese Jews. Laytner
has a B.A. from York University in Toronto, an M.A. in Hebrew Letters
and rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College, an M.A. in Not-
for-Profit Leadership from Seattle University, and an honorary D.D.
from Hebrew Union College.
Liang Pingan completed his M.A. on Jewish and Israeli Studies and is
writing his Ph.D. on Modern Foreign Relations Between Israel and the
Global Powers at Shanghai International Studies University. He is a vis-
iting researcher at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. He first
came into contact with Jews when he served as a tour guide and then as
Deputy General of Kaifeng International Travel Services over 15 years
ago. He later became the Deputy Chief Secretary of the Institute of
Kaifeng Jewish History and Culture. He served as a diplomatic attaché

xii
 C O N T R I BU T O R S

to the Chinese embassy in Slovenia and Kuwait. He spent a year learning

Hebrew and Jewish culture at Hebrew University’s Rothberg International
School and was an exchange scholar at Tel Aviv University’s Far-Eastern
Department. He remains actively engaged in Jewish–Chinese relations and
in the welfare of the descendants of the Jews of Kaifeng.
Ilan Maor has held the position of the Director of Economic Department
III at the Israeli Foreign Ministry since August 2005, which is responsible
for the promotion of economic cooperation between Israel and Asia,
Pacific, Russia and the CIS countries, as well as the political aspects of
Israel’s participation in International Organizations, including the WTO,
OECD, and FAO. Maor currently also is heading the Israeli negotiation
team with the OECD. From 2001–2005 Ilan Maor served as the Consul
General of Israel in Shanghai and in 2004 was the first Israeli diplomat
to be listed among the ‘‘100 Most Influential People in Israel Economy’’
by the magazine The Marker. Prior to his posting in Shanghai, Maor
served in various positions in Jerusalem, Nepal, and Taipei. Maor holds
a B.A. in Political Science from Tel Aviv University.
Matthias Messmer studied Political Science, Law and Economics at the
University of St. Gallen and received his Ph.D. in Social Sciences at the
University of Konstanz in Germany. Later, he spent several years doing
research in both China and the U.S. His extensive publications cover
China, inter-culture and travel. He is a Senior Research Fellow affiliated
with the Institute of Federalism at the University of Fribourg in Swit-
zerland. He currently lives and works as a writer, independent researcher
and consultant in Shanghai. Among his publications are, ‘‘Sowjetischer
und postkommunistischer Antisemitismus’’ (1997) and ‘‘China: Schau-
plätze west-östlicher Begegnungen’’ (2007).
Galia Patt-Shamir is a senior lecturer of Chinese philosophy and Compara-
tive Philosophy and Religion in the departments of East-Asian Studies
and of Philosophy at Tel Aviv University in Israel. She earned her Ph.D.
degree in the Study of Religion in 1997 from Harvard. Her main focus is
in the dialogue and understanding among civilizations and individuals
and she is involved in practical and theoretical projects to enhance this
field of study. She wrote a book on human nature in Chinese philosophies
and religions (Hebrew, 2004). Her book To Broaden the Way – A Con-
fucian–Jewish Dialogue (2006) focuses on the themes of ultimate, social
life, and individual pursuit, as dealt with in both traditions, through reli-
gious texts, philosophical methodologies, and literary sources. She also
published articles on issues in inter-religious dialogue, Confucian and
Neo-Confucian texts, practice and theory, in leading journals such as
Journal of Chinese Philosophy, Philosophy and Literature, Journal of Ecu-
menical Studies, Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy.

xiii
 C O N T R I BU T O R S

Yoav Rapoport received an undergraduate degree in Chinese Studies from

the Department of East Asian Studies at The Hebrew University in
Jerusalem and studied history at Tel Aviv University. He went on to
receive a M.A. in Chinese Studies from The Hebrew University and
also served as Assistant to the Head of the Department of East Asian
Studies. In 1990, Rapoport participated in the first Exchange Student
Program between China and Israel, spending a year at Southwest China
Normal University in Beibei in Chongqing prefecture and continued his
studies at Oxford University in England. He has taught courses in
Chinese Literature, History and Philosophy at Tel Aviv University,
Department of East Asian Studies and currently works as a freelance
translator from Chinese to Hebrew, editor of books about China in
Hebrew, and commentator and adviser on Chinese affairs for various
Israeli media.
Suzanne D. Rutland is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of
Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies at the University of Sydney. She has
published widely on Australian Jewish history, as well as issues relating to
the Shoah, Israel and Jews in China. She has also assisted in special
exhibitions on the Jews of Shanghai at the Sydney Jewish Museum and
the National Maritime Museum and was interviewed for the television
program Compass on the Jews of Shanghai. Her latest book is The Jews
in Australia (2005). She has received a major government grant with Prof.
Sol Encel to study ‘The Political Sociology of Australian Jewry’. She has
held numerous leadership positions, including being immediate past pre-
sident of the Australian Jewish Historical Society, and edits the Sydney
edition of the AJHS Journal.
David Straub is a visiting researcher at the Center for Judaic and Inter-
Religious Studies at Shandong University, received his B.A. at the Uni-
versity of Minnesota, Twin Cities and is a graduate student in the Cen-
tral Eurasian Studies department at the University of Indiana,
Bloomington. He has lived and taught in China since 2001, previously
contributed to and was assistant editor of the upcoming Encyclopaedia of
the Jewish Diaspora, is a specialist on Central Asian and China and has
travelled broadly across Asia.
Wang Yi is a professor of Aesthetics and Aesthetic Education, and director
of the Institute of Tourism and Aesthetics at Sichuan International Stu-
dies University in Chongqing, China. He is the author of seven books
and his recent publications include ‘‘From Franz Kafka to Isaac Bashevis
Singer: Chinese Avant-garde Writers’ Turnaround – Focusing on Ma
Yuan, Su Tong and Yu Hua’’ (2005); ‘‘From Misreading to the Bottle-
neck of the Aesthetic Education Theory’’ (2006); and ‘‘An Exegetic Study
of the So-called Proposition of Confucian Aesthetics’’ (2008).

xiv
 C O N T R I BU T O R S

Xu Xin, professor of History of Jewish Culture and director of the Center

for Jewish Studies at Nanjing University, is also president of the China
Judaic Studies Association and editor-in-chief and a major contributor of
the Chinese edition of the Encyclopedia Judaica. He teaches courses such
as Jewish history, Jewish culture and the world civilization, Holocaust
studies, and history of the Jewish Diaspora. He has created graduate-
level programs on Jewish history and culture at Nanjing University. He is
the author of many books and articles about Judaism in China, and has
been a visiting professor at numerous universities in the U.S. Xu is a
member of the Center for Judaic and Inter-Religious Studies at Shan-
dong University and in 2003 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by
Bar Ilan University in recognition of the work he has done on the
research of the Jewish people in China.
Zhang Ping is a member of the academic staff of the Chinese program at Tel
Aviv University. He holds a B.A. in Chinese literature from Beijing Uni-
versity and an M.A. in Oriental literature from the Department of
Oriental Languages at Beijing University. He completed his Ph.D. in
Comparative philosophy at Tel Aviv University and taught at Beijing
University, Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University. His
publications include the Chinese translation of Pirki Avoth, S. Y. Agnon’s
stories, academic works on Chinese literature, and comparative studies
between Confucianism, Judaism and Hebrew literature.
Zhong Zhiqing is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Foreign Litera-
ture at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, China. She
holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Hebrew Literature at Ben-Gurion
University and is the author of A Comparative Study of Hebrew and
Chinese Literature in Response to the Catastrophe of World War Two, A
Study of Contemporary Israeli Authors, and a number of essays in
Hebrew and Jewish literature. In addition, she has translated Amos Oz’s
My Michael, Black Box, A Tale of Love and Darkness; Yehoshua Kanaz’s
After the Holidays; and Gershon Shaked’s Modern Hebrew Function.
Currently Zhong is working on a national project entitled 20th Century
Hebrew Literature in Transition.

xv
 C H RON O LOG Y O F T H E
JEWISH–CHINESE NEXUS

M. Avrum Ehrlich

Since the second century BCE there have been unverified myths and
assumptions regarding Jewish merchants entering China at different times
and various routes.

781 CE, the earliest known Chinese translation of the Hebrew Bible is
carved into a stone stele by a Nestorian sect in what is modern-day Xi’an.
960–1127, during the Northern Song Dynasty Jewish merchants, pre-
sumably of Persian origin, passed over the Silk Road into China and began
a settlement in Kaifeng, which was, at the time, the Chinese capital. This
was the earliest clear documentation of Jews in China. Some came by sea,
and gradually penetrated from Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces to the
mainland; some came by land via Persia and India on the Silk Road. The
emperor himself gave the earliest Jewish immigrants Chinese names such as
Gao, Li, An, Mu, Zhao, Jin, Zhou, and Bai. The ancient Chinese history
books called them ‘‘shushu,’’ ‘‘deya,’’ and ‘‘youtai,’’ and their religion was
called ‘‘you tai jiao.’’ They and the Han people lived together and used their
Chinese family names. Some Jews seem to have converted or lived as Mus-
lims, becoming part of the Hui nationality of minority Chinese Muslims.
Jews were also known by the Han majority as ‘‘blue capped Muslims’’
indicating the Han was not able to easily tell the two groups apart. It is
possible that an unknown number of Chinese Jews continued to exist in the
shadow of a larger Muslim minority, eating ritually slaughtered meat,
avoiding pork, celebrating festivals and the Sabbath, as Muslims.
1163, the first synagogue is established in Kaifeng.
1489, a stone tablet is erected at the Kaifeng synagogue, the earliest
existing self-document of the Chinese Jews.
1605, Ai Tian, Kaifeng Jew and holder of the Chinese official title of
juren, meets Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci in Beijing. This encounter
brings news of the existence of Chinese Jews to both European Jews and
Christians.

xvi
 C H RO N O L O G Y O F T H E J E W I S H – C H I N E S E N E X U S

1642, flooding of the Yellow River devastates the Kaifeng Jewish com-
munity, which at this time numbers around 5,000.
1843–44, shortly after the conclusion of the First Opium War the first-
known Jews, Samuel Cohen and Jacob Phillips, arrive in Hong Kong. The
Hong Kong Jews were engaged in finance and banking.
1850s, after years of decline and repeated floods, disasters and recon-
structions, the Kaifeng synagogue falls to its final destruction. This also
marks the disintegration of the community as such, yet Jewish identity
persists in various forms.
1860s, foreign enclaves in Shanghai and across China are established after
the Second Opium War. Thousands of Jews arrive in Shanghai and even-
tually a number of notable Jewish families, such as the Sassoons, Kadoories,
and Hardoons became very wealthy and successful, buying huge tracts of
land in what is now the center of Shanghai; Shanghai Jews were mainly
engaged in trade.
1899, first Russian Jews settle in Harbin, North-Eastern China, creating a
fast-growing community reaching its peak with 13,000 people in 1931.
1900, Shanghai Jews found The Shanghai Society for the Rescue of Chinese
Jews, with little results; the Ohel Leah synagogue is consecrated in Hong Kong.
1910, Canadian Anglican Bishop William Charles White establishes the
Henan Diocese in Kaifeng. During his 25-year mission, he acquired the
land of the former synagogue and the stone steles. He was also involved in a
Christian attempt ‘‘to re-organize the Chinese Jews of Kaifeng,’’ which was
a euphemism for converting them to Christianity.
1920s, a surge in the number of Russian Jews relocated to the northern
Chinese city of Harbin, which was at the time occupied by Russia, burgeons
its population to 13,000 Jews. Gradually, some moved on to places like
Dalian, Tianjin, Qufu, and Qingdao and many moved to Shanghai. Ohel
Rachel synagogue was established in Shanghai marking the peak of the
Baghdadi community in Shanghai. Russian Jewish immigrants establish the
Shanghai Ashkenazi community. The Zionist program was publicly sup-
ported by Sun Yatsen, whose eagerness to support what he termed ‘‘the
civilization of the world’’ helped to lay the foundations for a fruitful relationship
with China, through which numerous political milestones would later be
achieved.
1920s, the work of a number of Jewish writers becomes popularized in
Chinese literary circles.
1920, revolutionary Chinese leader Sun Yat-Sen writes to the Jewish
community in Shanghai that ‘‘all lovers of democracy cannot help but sup-
port the movement to restore your wonderful and historic nation, which has
contributed so much to the civilization of the world, and which rightfully
deserves an honorable place in the family of nations.’’
1922, China votes at the League of Nations, which votes in favor of a
Jewish homeland.

xvii
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