The Sino-Judaic Institute
The Sino-Judaic Institute
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    • Home
    • About
      • Welcome!
      • SJI in a Nutshell ...
      • Officers
      • Mission
      • SJI History
      • Achievements
      • Links
      • Contact
    • Programs
      • Grants
      • Archives
      • Speakers
      • Books
      • Exhibits
    • Points East
    • Travel
      • Overview
      • Harbin
      • Hong Kong
      • Kaifeng
      • Kaifeng Descendants Today
      • Shanghai
      • Tianjin
    • Events
      • Upcoming Events
    • Donate
      • Donate & Join
  • Home
  • About
    • Welcome!
    • SJI in a Nutshell ...
    • Officers
    • Mission
    • SJI History
    • Achievements
    • Links
    • Contact
  • Programs
    • Grants
    • Archives
    • Speakers
    • Books
    • Exhibits
  • Points East
  • Travel
    • Overview
    • Harbin
    • Hong Kong
    • Kaifeng
    • Kaifeng Descendants Today
    • Shanghai
    • Tianjin
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
  • Donate
    • Donate & Join

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Sino-Judaic History - Overview

Sino-Judaic History - Overview

For well over a thousand years there has been a continuous Jewish presence in China. The oldest and most enduring community was that of Kaifeng, in Henan province (in central China), dating back to at least the 11th century. There are stone inscriptions from 1489, 1512, 1663 and 1679, which tell the story of this community. This community finally disintegrated in the 1850's, but descendants of those Kaifeng Jews survive to this day and are striving to educate themselves as Jews. While the number of Jews in China has always been small, Jews arrived there in five ripples of immigration:


1) 10th-12th Centuries

Jewish traders from Persia and India journeyed to China via ancient maritime trade routes and along the Silk Road, settling in cities along the coast and in Kaifeng, then the capital of China. The earliest piece of archaeological evidence, a Judeo-Persian business letter, dates to 717 CE, confirming the presence of Jews in Chinese territory at least as early as the Tang dynasty (618-907). The Kaifeng community persists to the present day.
 

2) 19th Century

Mizrahi (Baghdadi) Jews made their way to Hong Kong and Shanghai in 1845 with the 19th century British invasion. Working initially with the British East India Company, primarily with the opium trade, these Sephardi Jews built up the iconic architectural landmarks still seen along the Bund in Shanghai today.
 

3) Early 20th Century

Russian Jews traveled to Harbin,  Tianjin and other cities in the northeast at the turn of the 20th century, fleeing first pogroms and then the Russian Civil War that followed the Bolshevik Revolution. Later, at the onset of World War II, many moved to Shanghai and established their own community there, welcoming the Jewish refugees who were to come.
 

4)  1930s and 1940s

In the 1930s, desperate German, Austrian, Czech and Polish Jews fleeing the Nazis found Shanghai to be the only place in the world that accepted them without visas. By the 1950s most Jews had left China, but the buildings they built, the records they kept, and their economic and cultural contributions are a monument to that historical experience.


5) 1980s to the Present

China’s modern Jewish history started after Deng Xiaoping’s "Open Door" policy went into effect in the early 1980s. Since then, many North American, European, and Israeli Jews have moved to China to work.


Today, the ex-pat Jewish communities of China consist primarily of those in Hong Kong, with about 3,500; Shanghai, with about 1,000; and Beijing, with at least 1,500.   While Hong Kong has a longstanding, permanent Jewish community as well as a transitory business one, the Shanghai and Beijing Jewish communities are mostly transitory business or government related people. Unlike the Kaifeng Jews, members of these Jewish communities are not Chinese citizens.  Furthermore, although Judaism is not one of the five religions officially recognized by the state, Jewish foreigners are free to practice it as are Chinese nationals who have Jewish spouses or partners.


Today there are 13 Chabad centers across China including three in Shanghai alone, and progressive Reform communities in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. There’s also an Israeli Sephardic synagogue in Shanghai. It’s estimated that 10,000 Jews live in China year-round, but that number swells during tourist season and throughout the year for business. 


In Beijing and Shanghai, the two main communities operate independently, but there is some overlap among congregants and programming.



General.Resources

General Resources

Chirot, D. and Reid, A., eds., Essential Outsiders: Chinese and Jews in the  Modern Transformation of Southeast   Asia and Central Europe (1997)

Eber, Irene, Chinese and Jews:  Encounters Between Cultures  (2008) 

 _____, Jews in China: Cultural Conversations , Changing Perspectives (2020) 

Ehrlich, M.A., ed., The Jewish-Chinese Nexus: A Meeting of Civilizations (2008)

Goldstein, Jonathan, ed., The Jews of China,  Vol. I: Historical and Comparative Perspectives, (1999)

_____, The Jews of China, Vol. II: A Sourcebook and Research Guide (2000)

_____, ed., China and Israel, 1948—1998, A Fifty Year Retrospective (1999)

Kupfer, P., ed., Youtai—Presence and Perception of Jews and Judaism in China, (2008)

Malek, Roman, ed., From Kaifeng to Shanghai: Jews of China (2000) 

Pan Guang, ed., The Jews in China (2001)   

_____, ed., The Jews in Asia: Comparative Perspectives (2006)

Patt-Shamir, G., To Broaden the Way: A Confucian-Jewish Dialogue (2006) 

Schwarcz, Vera, Bridge Across Broken Time: Chinese and Jewish Cultural Memory (1998)

Wald, S.S., China and the Jewish People: Old Civilizations In A New Era (2004)

Weisz, Tiberiu, The Covenant and the Mandate of Heaven: An In-Depth Comparative Cultural Study of Judaism and China (2008)

Xu, Xin,  https://www.my-mooc.com/en/mooc/jewish-diaspora-in-modern-china/ 

Zhang, Nicholas, Jews in China: A History of Struggle (2019)

Zhou, X., Chinese Perceptions of the ‘Jews’ and Judaism: A History of the Youtai (2001)

Door with a Jewish star, in the former Jewish ghetto of the Hongkou District 

DONATE

The Denise Yeh Bresler Kaifeng Scholarship Fund

The Denise Yeh Bresler Kaifeng Scholarship Fund

The Denise Yeh Bresler Kaifeng Scholarship Fund

Provide travel support  for Kaifeng Jews to study Jewish culture and tradition overseas.

Arthur H. Rosen Sino-Judaic Memorial Fund

The Denise Yeh Bresler Kaifeng Scholarship Fund

The Denise Yeh Bresler Kaifeng Scholarship Fund

Support Judaic Studies programs in China and Sino-Judaic projects around the world.

The Shanghai Jewish Memories Fund

The Denise Yeh Bresler Kaifeng Scholarship Fund

The Shanghai Jewish Memories Fund

Help preserve the memories of Jews who lived in Shanghai, Harbin and Tianjin during the 20th century 

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