Judasim and China: personal perspective

Judaism and China is a topic that is close to me both personally and professionally: personally because I was raised as an orthodox Jew, and professionally because I have studied Chinese and China for most of my adult life. I have a very close affinity to China and an almost native insight. Having said that, I feel that I made a unique contribution to this field by writing three insightful books about the relationship between these two cultures. There is little doubt in my mind that these two cultures are closely related, and witness to it is the large amount of literature published lately. Unfortunately this literature seems to me lopsided, the authors know one culture in depth and the other one only superficially.
Western writers, including many  Jewish ones, compare the two culture with heavy emphasis on the Jewish point of view. Undoubtedly, they are familiar with Judaism, but their knowledge of China is quite superficial. Chinese writers publish papers on Judaism, mostly Western works translated into Chinese. Content wise the articles are tightly regulated and heavily censored.  Quite often the articles are published under the name of the Chinese "writer", leaving out the author of the original western work.  Plagiarizing is common in China and there is no legal remedy. Most of these articles are distributed in China only, rarely, if ever, seen by Westerners. Accidentally I came across my own work  published under the name of one of my "Chinese colleagues". I remember that instance since we discussed the issue of plagiarism and I was assured that "we (Chinese) do not plagiarize".

But I have seen and read some of these publications and I am here to relay my own observations.  I used to collaborate with several Chinese writers and scholars on translating articles into English and I also used to read their articles in Chinese for historical accuracy, meaning and context. Unaware at the time, I was actually helping the Chinese to plagiarize my works! I have never received credit for my input, because the general Chinese policy is to forbid Westerners to publish in China.
I used to travel to China on business and sometimes attend seminars.  A word about the seminars that I attended. They are usually packaged with an organized tour. From the Chinese perspective the emphasis is on the tour while the seminar is secondary.  Officially, the tour organizers arrange for tourist visas. In between tours, time is allotted for seminars. It quickly became  apparent to me that that the entire event was staged for the benefit of the foreign guests. As long as the Chinese did not realize that I am fluent in Chinese, everything was nice and clean. Gradually as they realized that my fluency afforded me unlimited access to the Chinese "invited guests", the situation took a dramatic turn. I was not allowed to interact freely with the Chinese audience without an "official translator". But it was too late. I had already found out what was behind the so called "seminars on Judaism" and the Jewish studies in China.
These seminars were part of "group tours" to attract Jewish tourists to visit China (and spend money), and while there talk about the Chinese Jews.
To fill these events with a live audience, the Chinese organizers have invited many Chinese scholars, students or fellows from throughout China to attend. The minimum qualification to be invited was to know where Israel is, or knows the word "shalom"or knows the Chinese word of yotairen (Jew).  Preference was given to those Chinese who knew some in English.
I had the privilege of mingling with the Chinese students and audiences. Initially I spoke freely with them in Chinese. It was a pleasure to converse with them since they did not have enough command of the English language to carry on a conversation, let alone for a more in depth exchange of ideas. That pleasure did not last long. The organizers, lead by Prof. Xuxin, Director of the Nanjing Jewish Project, realized that my ability to converse freely in Chinese with guests  probably worried the Chinese officials. It did not take long before I found out that I was given one or two escorts or rather "interpreters" and my contact with the audience was completely cut.
I was also scheduled to give a talk on my then forthcoming book "The Kaifeng Stone Inscriptions" and my findings of biblical relevance. Before I even had a chance to talk, I was told in no uncertain terms that I was to speak in English, and not allowed to address the audience in Chinese. Of course I immediately protested, pointing out that very few in the audience would understand. That was not important to them and I was sternly warned to talk in English.
I did. But I cut my speech short, to about five minutes from the allotted twenty minutes. I also made an impromptu change: instead of talking about my research I talked about the mistake that I saw on a map in the Kaifeng Jewish Museum. The Caspian Sea bordered Romania on the Chinese map!  The Chinese did not care, the audience had no idea what I talked about and that was the end of the story.
For them but not for me.
I kept in touch with several scholars through e-mail and I did some translations and for them, edited articles, exchanged ideas. In exchange I wanted to get copies of their studies in Chinese about Judaism, which the scholars were more than happy to share. I obtained quite a few articles and books published in China in Chinese. I read all of them and a picture emerged in my mind that there is a duplicity of what the Chinese say to us Westners and what they say to the local audiences. In short, the Jewish studies programs were a tightly controlled subject, and in my mind, is nothing more than a sham.
One day when I was collaborating with a Chinese scholar on an article, I asked to get a copy of the Chinese version. The Chinese scholar called Prof. Xuxin to ask pemission and all hell broke lose.  Apparently  Xuxin was very upset and he immediately forbade any contact between Chinese scholars and me. Suddenly, the Chinese tour guide, expert in Judaism and "friend of" the Jews, former Red Guard "teacher" member of the Communist Party revealed his true identity. He was but an agent who was  permitted to attract Jewish tourists and business to China. In the process he befriended many Jews, spent months in the US talking in synagogues about Judaism and China, was a welcome guest among Jewish communities who did not realized that he was just a good cadre following the party line.