Jewish Identity in China: A Chinese View
By
An Tifa
Translated from
Chinese
By
Tiberiu Weisz
Translator Note
The original title of this article: “A Group
of Jewish Descendents from Kaifeng Want to Immigrate to Israel, but Their
Identity is in Doubt” was published in 21st
Century World in
Chinese and on the internet at: http://www.sina.com.cn/c/2002-08-06.
As the Chinese title
indicates, this article is written for Chinese audiences, and the text follows Chinese
reporting practices that differ considerably from reporting style in the West.
To make the article more reader friendly for Western readers, the translator
made some structural changes, eliminated many repetitions, duplications and
redundancies, while remaining true to the original article. Background
information on the story of Chinese Jews may be found in the endnotes and
suggested readings.
Among a group of people studying Hebrew at the Foreign
Language Institute at Nanjing University was Zhang Xingwang[i]
a teacher from Kaifeng with a small black cap called a kipa covering his
head. Zhang said that he does not have a great knowledge of the Jewish
tradition, but he wears the kipa in search of spiritual sustenance.
Because of this search, he is very attentive when he follows the instruction of
the Hebrew teachers.
At the invitation of Professor Xuxin, Director of The Jewish
Cultural Studies Department at Nanjing University, Chinese students,
historians, teachers, scholars and other interested parties came from all over
China to attend a summer program of Israel cultural studies. He also invited
several descendents of the Jews from Kaifeng and a Jewish professor and his
wife to teach Hebrew and Jewish culture.
Zhang Xingwang introduced straightforwardly the long history
of the Jews in Kaifeng. “One thousands years ago”, he said, “[Jewish] ancestors
came on the Silk Route from Israel to Kaifeng, capital of the Song Dynasty
(960-1279). After the court received them the emperor said; ‘[You] returned to
my China. Honor and observe the custom of your ancestors. Bianliang was
abandoned.’[ii]
These Jews decided to settle down. At the beginning, there were 17 families[iii]
but only 7 exist today: Shi, Gao, Ai, Li, Zhang, Zhao and Jin. All these names
were transliterations from Hebrew with the exception of Zhao, whose name was
bestowed by the emperor. Thus, Li sounded like Levi while Shi [Stone] and Jin
[Gold] were translations. ” [iv] According
to Zhang Xingwang there were 618 descendents of the Kaifeng Jews, some of them
had left, scattered in Uruguchi, Lanzhou[v],
Xian, Chengdu, Shanghai, Nanjing, Shenzhen and other cities.
In the past, these Jews marked “Jews” as their nationality
in the census. In 1952, two Jewish delegates from Kaifeng went to Beijing to
represent the community at the celebration of the National Day [vi]
and were received by the leadership of the Central Committee. A few years ago
at the time of the census most of the people changed [nationality] to “Muslim”
or “Han”.[vii]
Zhang Xingwang was obviously not pleased. He said [that the Jews] were
obviously not Muslims or Han Chinese, so why ask them to change their
nationality? It is unreasonable that they cannot get such recognition.
Zhang Xingwang also maintains that the descendents of the
Kaifeng Jews had forgotten the Jewish culture. The original Kaifeng descendents
had congregated near the teaching alley (hutong) but after 1958, they
moved out. Only the Zhao family remained there. Looking at this from a daily
life perspective, they were no longer observing the Jewish tradition. This year
is the first time that [the Jews] have celebrated Passover. Although most of
the [Jews] are still in the habit of not eating pork, there is no Jewish person
who is true to the image of “the sect that extracts the sinew”[viii]
of the sheep. They forgot the
traditional customs and therefore came here [to Nanjing] to study Hebrew hoping
to return and search for their historical Jewish memories.
[Meanwhile, in the class] these Jewish descendents repeated
after the teacher a Hebrew prayer:”In front of the Lord we sing a new
song—Hallelujah!” Everybody made great effort to have the correct pronunciation
as each one hoped to annunciate every single word of the hard-to-study Hebrew
sentence.
With illegal emigration – the family stretches the
boundaries.
When the reporter asked Zhang Xingwang about the family who
had already immigrated to Israel, he responded without hesitation: “They are
different from us, we are patriots”. He also admitted that there were Kaifeng
Jews who ran away illegally but this was a matter of purely individual
behavior. He also said that just because this family name was Jin, it does not
mean that we study Hebrew for the pleasure of the Jin family. “First we are
Chinese, but because we have Jewish bloodlines, we are Chinese with Jewish
characteristics. We teach this to our children, that first of all of we love
our country.”
Outsiders need to understand that this is a sensitive issue.
Zhang Xingwang, illustrated this point: “We were the little birds in the forest,
without worries and concerns. Later as the cats [hunters] became numerous, we
saw the guns’ fowling pieces and ran. Now, many people are looking for us both
from China and abroad.” He repeatedly stated that the majority of the Kaifeng
Jewish descendents are patriots.
According to Zhang Qianhong[ix],
the head of the Institute of Jewish Studies at Henan University, in addition to
the Jin’s [who already emigrated] there were the Zhang’s and the Li’s
who had wanted to immigrate to Israel in the 1990s. However, only the three
members of the Jin family were successful; they moved to Finland and their
uncle Jin Guanzhong remained in Kaifeng.
Zhang Xingwang expressed his disappointment that the Kaifeng
descendents cannot immigrate to Israel legally: “We would like to go to see
Jerusalem, too.” He explained that intermarriage between Jews [in Kaifeng] and
Han Chinese was quite common. The descendents of the Kaifeng Jews followed the
patrilineal descent in China, and therefore could not immigrate because in Israel
the matrilineal descent is followed. “Had the Kaifeng community followed the
matrilineal descent, then they would have not encountered any problems. The
Jewish community in Spain had a 300 year-old history; they also celebrated
Passover, but were not even aware that they were Jews. Only after scholars
realized that they were of matrilineal descent, they could immigrate. Jewish
blood cannot be forgotten.”[x]
Zhang Xingwang explained the value of the Jewish presence in
China: “The Kaifeng Jewish community has an impact on the world. They often
receive Jews from foreign countries and from Israel. The Israelis consider the
Jews of Kaifeng especially important, because it serves a testimony to the
friendship between China and Israel. We are saying that the Chinese people are
good toward the Jews; they do not discriminate against the Jews. Living
circumstances in Kaifeng are favorable, and the Jews can survive and flourish
for another thousand years.” In conclusion, he said, “it is not important
whether or not the government recognizes us as Jews, nor is it important that
the census cannot be changed, what is important is that we feel that we are
Jews in our hearts. Neither this nor the next generation will forget that we
are Jews.”
But the young generation of Jews has a different view
of their Jewish identity
At the Hebrew school [in Nanjing] was another female
student, majoring in International Relations at the Elousi Mosque.[xi] Her name is Shi Han, a second year
student who used the summer vacation to go to Nanjing University to study
Jewish culture. Although her [maternal] grandfather was a representative of the
Jewish descendents at the Beijing [festivities] in 1952,[xii]
she has no deep historical affiliation to Judaism and her interest in this
class is mostly curiosity. “I
rarely mention that I am Jewish; only when classmates come over to my house and
ask about the few books and the pictures in the house, I tell them that I am a
descendent of Jews.” When the government allowed [the Jews] to test for their
DNA in the 1980s, the proof came back that she had the same DNA traces as an
Iraqi Jew. She has no understanding of Judaism and even less of the Bible. But
when she was asked about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, she said: “Of course
we are on the side of Israel.”
The Jin family obviously went one-step further [in their
quest] of their ancestors’ tradition. According to reports, when Jin Xiaojin,
who worked at the Institute for Minority Research, found out in the 1980s that
he was of Jewish descent, he sent his daughter Qu Yian, who at the time was a
reporter in Beijing, to Los Angeles to study Judaism.
The Latest Jewish Records
Kaifeng is an old city; its economy naturally cannot be
compared to the coastal area. Song Nushi, who works for the city Migration
Assistance Bureau said that, because of the high unemployment rate, many people
considered going to work abroad, and last year a number of people asked about
Israel.
Zhang Xingwang directed the reporter to the Teaching Alley (jiao
hutong). That place is marked on the map as the” remnants of the Jewish
Synagogue” but the original synagogue site has been replaced by the Peoples’
Number Four Hospital and the only historical marker is an ancient well in the
hospital boiler room.
Cui Shuping, a widower of a Jewish descendent, lives on the
southern side of the Teaching Alley.
She is a Han Chinese but her late husband Zhao Pingyu was of Jewish
descent. Everyday she sees local
and foreign visitors. On the table in the house, there is a candleholder, and a
“Great Six Star” (Magen David) paper cut window decoration that her daughter
had cut out and put in the framed mirror. She told the reporter that the paper
cut is both a decoration and a reminder. On the sides of the door are hung two
traditional Chinese scrolls designated for peace. Apart for these reminders,
her house is no different from that of her neighbors.
On the fourth floor of the Kaifeng Museum is the Jewish
department, and to gain admission one needs to apply in advance. Fortunately, the gatekeeper was there
and asked the guide to take the reporter to the fourth floor, on condition that
she take no pictures nor make any recording. On display in the museum is an
extremely important memorial engraving, the original stone stele of “The Record
of the Rebuilding of the Pure and Truth Temple” and “The Record in Honor of the
Daojing Temple”[xiii]. The
floor was very dark and very humid and the mood was somber. Due to the
declining number of visitors, Zeng Guangqing, the head of the department, told
the 21-Century World reporter that the Kaifeng Jews were a historical
phenomenon and that there is no Jewish minority among the 56 national
minorities in China. But of course the reporter does knows this.
The local Kaifeng Jewish descendents, however, welcomed the
publicity. Li Suisheng’s wife bought a watermelon to serve the reporter while
she showed her two sets of original census documents as proof of their
nationality. The nationality of Li
Suisheng was clearly marked “Jew” in the old the Red Book[xiv]. The new census is handwritten and has
the word “Jew” for Li Suisheng and his daughter, but a closer look at the
census record of Li Suisheng shows that there is a trace of change. His wife
explained that the census official wrote it wrong and he immediately corrected
it.
Officially, neither country recognizes them as Jews
The reporter followed up with the census registration
office. The People’s Police pulled up the record of Li Suisheng on the computer
and the reporter could see on the screen that the nationality of the three
members of the Li clan is Han Chinese. The deputy director explained that most
of the new census is computerized but the transfer [to computerized system]
occurred while the census was taken. At the time, the software was not secure
and therefore Li Suisheng’s registry was handwritten. But he added that the
computerized system has only two nationalities Han or Muslims. China has 56
nationalities and Jews are not among them.
Not only that the local government did not recognize them as
Jews, but when the reporter went to the Office of Migration of the Foreign
Ministry [in Beijing] inquiring about the application of the Jin family to
Israel, an official at the Public Documentation Office admitted that in 1996
the local government made an error issuing those certificates. At the time, the
Public Notary Office issued individual IDs that did not constitute legal
recognition of the Jews.[xv] Later the
Public Notary Office revoked the Jewish certificates and since then IDs with
Jew on them were illegal. According to the official, China has only 56
minorities, and the Jewish minority in not among them.
[The reporter went] to the Israeli Consulate in Beijing
located on the 4th floor of the West Trade Center building
The response from the Israeli Consulate was the same. The
Public Relations Officer told 21st Century World that the Israeli Consulate
recognizes only the legal procedure of the Foreign Ministry and does not regard
the Jewish certificates as legal. He also said that the Consulate had not issued
immigration certificates to any Jewish descendents.
Though neither country admits officially that they are Jews,
a few organizations assist the Kaifeng descendents to return to their
traditional culture. Chou Cailian, a Chinese Canadian, helped many Chinese
minority poor children with education. Since he [Chou] suspects that his
great-grandmother was of Jewish descent, he had helped several Jewish
descendents of Kaifeng. He financed the education of fourteen Kaifeng Jewish
descendents among them was Lijing, Li Suisheng’s daughter, who just recently
had received a scholarship. In March of this year, Chou Cailian invited the
families of the descendents to a restaurant to celebrate Passover. At the same
time, other organizations also assist the Kaifeng Jewish descendents to
immigrate to Israel. The Jin family only recently immigrated to Israel with the
help of such an organization.
The Jewish teacher at the Israel
Cultural Training Center of Nanjing University offered some private thoughts to
the hopeful few who want to immigrate to Israel: “If one wants to become a Jew,
of course you can become Jew. But, this is a very long and slow process.
Besides, I want them to think about three things: Is it worth becoming a Jew?
Jews have many enemies, a long and sad history of bitterness and strict laws….
But no matter what we say, if they want, we welcome them with open arms.
Are the Kaifeng Jewish descendents Jews?
.
To clarify this question, the reporter interviewed Professor
Xuxin from the Nanjing Jewish Cultural Center.
21st Century World: The Jews of Kaifeng are a
historical incident. But, from an Israeli standpoint, after some descendent of
the Jews of Kaifeng immigrated to Israel it suddenly became reality. Could you
put the issue of the Kaifeng Jews in simple terms for us?
Xuxin: The issue of the Kaifeng Jews as was talked
about in China in the past actually referred to the remnant of the historical
Kaifeng Jews. Some maintain that the Jews settled in Kaifeng in the Northern
Song Dynasty [1162 CE] and some of them formed a community conforming to the
Jewish customs. At the end of the 19th century, Chinese scholars
started to pay attention to the question of Kaifeng Jews, and in the 1920s,
they documented their historical existence.
In the beginning of the 17th century, the story
of the Kaifeng Jews was extensively reported in the West. It attracted the
attention of the intelligentsia in Europe creating controversy and debates.
During the reign of Yong Zheng [1723- 1735] of the Qing Dynasty [1644- 1911],
China expelled foreign religions from China, and the outside world lost its
connection with the Kaifeng Jews. After the Opium War in 1850, two Chinese
missionaries from Shanghai were sent to Kaifeng and they wrote a report that
was widely publicized in the West. According to that report, there was no
longer a rabbi in Kaifeng and they estimated that [the community had been
without a rabbi] or a successor since the beginning of the 19th
century. Thus, they [Jews] ceased to observe the traditional customs because
the role of the rabbi was very important in Judaism.
The Kaifeng Temple had been in disrepair for a long time,
and it was evident that the Jews stopped going to the synagogue. Since the
synagogue belonged to the descendents of the Kaifeng Jews, the descendents sold
the building in 1914. This attracted the attention of the Shanghai Jews.[xvi]
Jews have a tradition of helping each other, and when they learned that the
Kaifeng descendents sold the Torah scrolls, they were very sad. They
established an “Association for the Aid of the Kaifeng Jews” and wrote letters
to the world Jewish communities calling for saving the descendents of the
Kaifeng Jews. But the outbreak of World War II shelved the issue; they [the
Jews] faced other disasters in the world. At the time there were several
Kaifeng Jews who went to Shanghai and were well received by the Shanghai Jewish
community, they also underwent circumcision, but afterward there were no more
attempts to restore the tradition.
21st Century World: The descendents of the Kaifeng
Jews called themselves Jews in the past, what is your view about this question?
Xuxin: After the end of the 19th century,
there were no Jewish descendents in Kaifeng, but some people followed the
tradition and called themselves Jews. The Kaifeng Jews followed the patrilineal
tradition, that is, if the father was Jewish, the offspring were Jewish, too,
and they used the father’s surname. In the 1920 census, during the Republican
Period [1911-1949] a few Kaifeng descendents wrote “Jew” as their nationality
affiliation. They did so out of conviction of historical loyalty and not due to
political or economic aspirations. Even on the 1952 census [form], some Kaifeng
Jewish descendents wrote “Jew” [as their nationality] even though there were not
many [who observed] Jewish tradition at the time, but in that generation,
people were permitted to determine their own religious affiliation. The census
did not require any proof of ancestry or nationality; descendents knew the
origin of their ancestors. This kind of “Jew” was actually [a Jew] in a
cultural sense. Interestingly, the descendents of the Kaifeng Jews based their
being Jews on the tradition, but other people claim that they are not [Jewish].
This is strange because no other minority, not the Han Chinese nor the Muslims are
required to prove their [affiliation], so why are the Kaifeng Jews?
21st Century World: But according to the Law of
Return, they are not Jews.
Xuxin: That is correct. I was talking about Jews in a
cultural sense. Strictly speaking, I do not regard them as Jews, and that
refers to the “Jewish descendents”, too.
I think that it
is ludicrous that they want to immigrate to Israel. According to the Law of
Return, only if the mother is Jewish, or the individual is converted to
Judaism, he or she is a Jew. Based on these standards, they are obviously not
Jews, because the descendents of the Kaifeng Jews follow the father’s lineage.
But this is a legal definition, and one cannot suppress these peoples’
traditional right to call themselves Jews. We should not forget that during
biblical times the Jewish lineage was patrilineal and only after the exile [586
BCE], the standard changed to matrilineal.
When China examined its definition of national minorities,
the status of the Jewish minority was also considered. In 1952, two delegates
from Kaifeng represented the Jews in the National Minority Day Celebration. But
in 1953 the Central Committee reaffirmed the article [of the basic laws] that
maintained that there are only 56 minorities in China, and Jews were not among
them, yet the [same article] also protected their rights to preserve their
traditional customs.
21st Century World: Now it appears that the
Kaifeng Jewish descendents want to immigrate to Israel, how do you look at this?
Xuxin: In the 1990s, the Kaifeng descendents became
interested in immigration. Among the Seven Surnames of the Kaifeng Jews, the
Jin family went to Beijing and asked to immigrate. The Consulate of Israel,
however, refused to consider their application because the Law of Return. Then
they [the Jin’s] went to Israel from a third country (from Russia to
Finland and to Israel). My understanding is that a Christian organization
helped them. But, I doubt that they can become eligible to be Israelis according
to the Law of Return unless they convert. Conversion is not easy. If one wants
to convert, the Jews will be the first to tell you that becoming a Jew is not
fun. If you insist on converting, you need to study, and be under close
observation for [at least] a year. Most of the conversions occur because of
marriage. Most Chinese do not understand Israel; they think that immigration is
good. But, I tell them straightforwardly that immigration is a difficult
affair. I do not approve of
immigration, they do not speak the language, they have no skills and life in
Israel is very difficult.
Special correspondent An Tifa reports for Jerusalem.
Since 1986, many foreign and Chinese visitors have come to
Kaifeng to interview L. (I use the name L. because the interviewee
did not agree to use the real name), and the descendents of the Kaifeng Jews.
After the establishment of relations between China and Israel in 1992, these
kinds of interviews increased daily. And L.’s name started to appear in
a few places both in China and abroad. An unexpected opportunity in 1999
changed the fate of L. At the beginning of that year, L. received
assistance from an organization that in the 1920’s started to help overseas
Jews to immigrate to Israel, and they expressed their willingness to assist L.
to be the first Kaifeng Jew to immigrate to Israel.
Once the reporter met L. she asked: Why do you want to
immigrate to Israel?
L. said, “Since I was little, I have known that I was
Jewish. When I was little, my mother told me that one branch of [the family] is
Chinese and one branch is Israelite. Reaching out to the other branch has been
one of my dreams since childhood.”
After 1999, L. sought the path of immigration, but
that path was not successful. It can be said that behind each emigration from
China, there is a complicated story. But in the end they achieved their goal.
By the year 2000, they obtained the various permits, spent four months in
Finland, and went to live in Israel.
L. explained the process of immigrating to Israel as
a Jews. “First, I needed to prove that I was a Jew. Though I wrote ‘Jew’ as my
nationality in the 1996 census, officials told me that I had to write either
Han or Muslim and could not continue to write ‘Jew’ as nationality because
there was no such name among the
56 names. Then I had to produce an official notarized letter. I went to the
Foreign Ministry in Beijing where I was told that [such] a notarized letter
needed to be approved by higher levels at the Ministry. After two weeks, I
received the approval of the higher officials in the ministry, and in addition,
it was also stamped by the Israeli Consulate.” L. continued: “If one wants to maintain Jewish
identity one needs also to obtain a notarized [letter] from one’s rabbi. But there
are no rabbis in China. The few Jewish descendents ‘perhaps several thousand
people altogether’ are widely scattered throughout China and very few of them
are observant Jews.”
Once the identity is recognized, traveling becomes a
question of expenses. According to the records, the aid society who helped them
immigrate, had already taken into account the expenses and successfully
provided them enough financing. Thus in the fall of 1999, L. [and wife]
embarked for Finland, where they stayed for four months and in the end they
arrived in Jerusalem.
They lived in Jerusalem for two years.
“Because of the sensitivity of the immigration issue, the
government hoped that we would not come to Jerusalem directly from Beijing,
therefore we adopted a two stage plan. First we went to Finland and then to
Israel. Our expenses in Finland and in Jerusalem were covered by the aid
society. For two years after we
left Kaifeng we had received about ten thousand US dollars in aid.” They lived in Jerusalem for two years,
and received a monthly stipend of US $ 600 (5000 Chinese yuan) that covered the
rent. In addition, they received 6000-yuan ($700) a month for living expenses
and medical insurance equal to the [standard of living of a] middle-income
family. They were also provided with furniture and appliances. L. did
not work. He spent half days, three times a week, at an ulpan, the rest
of the time he had free time. He went for walks, watched TV, read books, surfed
the internet and cooked. At least three times a week, he went to the synagogue
and used Hebrew to read the prayers. L. said that once he felt he could
communicate, he was able to look for a job. Gradually the aid society decreased
the amount of aid and eventually stopped it altogether. No matter to what
standards one compares L.’s living conditions, his two-room apartment is
not considered small. On the snow white painted walls, hangs a Chinese scroll.
Also displayed in the living room are seven or eight picture frames depicting
the old Kaifeng synagogue and the scenery around it.
Observing Jewish rituals
During the interview the reporter asked L.,”To what
extent did you observe the Jewish tradition in Kaifeng?
L. said, “In the old days, there was a saying that
‘seven surnames and eight families’[xvii] of Jews
lived in Kaifeng. These surnames
were bestowed in antiquity by the emperor. Our surname was historic and our
ancestors held a fourth grade official rank in the court. The household was
rather prosperous. There were also rather many Jews in old Kaifeng who observed
the tradition. We had our own family tree, which also was a proof that we
were Jewish. Before the Cultural
Revolution [1966-1969], our family still kept the imperial tablet[xviii]
but later we lent it to a display in Beijing. It was never returned to us, and
we lost its trace. There are also stone inscriptions left in Kaifeng that had
recorded the deeds of our ancestors.[xix] The graves of our Jewish ancestors near
Kaifeng are still are in good conditions. There are approximately 30 tombs.
Buried among the bodies of nine generations is [the grave] of my elder brother
who recently passed away.
On the door of our house, we had a special Jewish sign that
we touched when we entered or left the house. It was a sign of ‘to go and come
in peace’. Our family observed the Sabbath from Friday sunset until sunset on
Saturday. That time we did no work. Our family had also read the Chinese
version of the Jewish prayers.”
L.’s wife is not of Jewish descent but she said that
[since her marriage] she had understood and respected [her husband’s] national
identity and traditional customs. L. said, “During the ninety years of
living in Kaifeng, our family had not eaten pork or shrimp and these customs
had been preserved until today.” Before immigrating to Israel, L. ran a
rather small factory and his wife used a room in the house to run a barbershop.
L. has an elder sister and a younger brother who live near the community
housing in Kaifeng. They also follow the same customs as the L.
household.
The interview is nearing an end and the reporter asked L:
“Do your sister and brother hope to immigrate to Israel? Why did they not come
yet? “
L. said: “Of course, they would like to immigrate;
they also sent in their application. But two main obstacles are in the way:
One, there is no organization that is willing to give them the documentations
that they are Jews. Two, financing
is also a problem. You know, immigrating requires a lot of money and the
organization that helped and financed us is helping other people.”
In conclusion, it must be added that L’s family are
not the sole Chinese Jews living in Israel.
During World War I, many Jews sought refugee in Shanghai and
other places in China; some of them married to local Chinese. The children of
these mixed marriages have Jewish blood. After the liberation, some of them
went to Israel with their Jewish mother or father; others came to Israel after
the opening of relations between the two countries, in search of their mother
or father. In every town or city in Israel, one can find such examples.
About the author
An Tifa is special correspondent for the 21st
Century World, a Chinese periodical.
About the Translator
Tiberiu Weisz, Professor of Chinese and author of two books
about China and the Jews: The Kaifeng Stone Inscriptions: The Legacy of the
Jewish Community in Ancient China, iUniverse 2006, and The Covenant and
the Mandate of Heaven: An In-depth Comparative Cultural Study of Judaism and
China. iUniverse 2008..
Suggested Reading
Many books and
articles have been written about the Jews in China, and below is a very short
list that provides interested readers a wide range of views on this fascinating
topic.
Goldstein, Jonathan. The
Jews of China: A Sourcebook and Research Guide. 2 Volunes. M.E. Sharpe 2000.
( A comprehensive collection of scholarly articles).
Pollack, Michael. Mandarins,
Jews and Missionaries: The Jewish Experience in the Chinese Empire. Jewish
Publication Society, Philadelphia 1980. (A history of the Jewish presence in
China for both laymen and scholars).
Xu Xin, The Jews of
Kaifeng, China, History Culture and Religion. Ktav Publishing House 2003. (A view from a Chinese scholar)
Pan Guang, The Jews in
China. China Intercultural Press 2003. (Another view from a Chinese
scholar)
Eber, Irene. Chinese Jews
Encounters between Cultures. Valentine Mitchell Press 2008 (A view from an
Israeli scholar. I believe that this book is also available in Hebrew).
Schwarcz,
Vera, Bridge Across Broken Time: Chinese and Jewish Cultural Memory. Yale
University Press, 1999. (Cross cultural observations of a Jewish student in
China in the 1970’s)
Weisz, Tiberiu,
The Kaifeng Stone Inscriptions: The Legacy of the Jewish Community in
Ancient China. iUniverse 2006. (Full translation and annotation of the
stone inscriptions and their meaning)
Weisz,
Tiberiu, The Covenant and the Mandate of Heaven: An In-Depth Comparative
Cultural Study of Judaism and China. iUniverse 2008.
[i] Zhang Xingwang,
is the spokesman for the Jewish community in Kaifeng and also goes by the
Hebrew name of Moshe. He is very outspoken about Judaism in China and, here, he
expressed his views to a Chinese reporter. He is a Physical Education teacher and a Wushu (martial
arts) coach in a high school in Kaifeng. He is also member of the Chinese
Communist Party and former city council member. I met him several times, but
had never had a chance to talk with him. At one of the dinners, I sat next to
his daughter, at the time a high school student, with whom I exchanged a few
words. She was very surprised that I could talk in fluent Chinese, and once she
realized that we could converse freely, she was very talkative. Unfortunately
she was called away to give us a “demonstration of her knowledge of a Hebrew
song.”
[ii] Zhang’s remarks referred to a sentence in the 1489
stone inscriptions that was believed to say that the Jews came to China in the
Song Dynasty (960-1279) at the invitation of the emperor. It is evident that
Zhang quoted Bishop White’s translation. Bishop White, a Chinese missionary who
resided in China between 1897 and 1934 and brought the case of the Kaifeng Jews
to our attention, translated this sentence to say that:” You have come to our
China; Reverence and preserve the custom of your ancestors and hand them down
at Pien-Liang (Kaifeng)” (Chinese Jews.). Donald Leslie, an Australian
scholar, merely rephrased this: “Come to our China, honor and preserve the
custom of your ancestors. Remain and hand them down in Pianliang” (The
Survival of the Chinese Jews (T’ong Pao 1972, pg 23). Xuxin, who is mentioned in this article,
and is the author of The Jews of Kaifeng recreated the story of
the Chinese Jews based on Bishop White’s translation without
checking it for accuracy.
But, a closer look at
the original Chinese text revealed that the English translation contained two
critical errors. First, Bishop
White mistranslated the word “gui” which in Chinese means “return” (and
not “come”) implying that the Jews were not new comers to China. Second, he also mistranslated the word
“liuyi” which in the 15th century referred to the moving of
the capital from one city to another and it meant “to abandon, to leave
behind [the capital city].” Based on these distinctions, the first sentence was
a direct speech by emperor, while the second sentence referred to the fleeing
of the Song court in 1127. For a full translation and explanation of the
original Chinese text see Tiberiu Weisz: The Kaifeng Stone Inscriptions.
[iii] The 1489 inscription mentioned seventy families and
that was not incidental. It
indicated that the Chinese Jews knew their roots and used it to identify
themselves in a Jewish historical context: “all the offspring of Jacob were
seventy person” ( Exodus 1:5).
[iv] Some researchers advanced the theory that these names
were of Hebrew origin, but as I showed in The Kaifeng Stone Inscriptions,
these names were bona fide Chinese surnames and not
transliterations.
[v] A very good Chinese friend of mine, who was assigned
to a “working brigade” in Lanzhou (Xinjiang/Gansu Province) during the Cultural
Revolution (1966-1969) and spent nineteen
years there, said that he
knew people of Jewish descends in Lanzhou.
[vi] What he is referring was the celebration of the
National Minority Day in 1952 when the Kaifeng Municipal Government and Bureau
of Central South chose two Jewish descendants from Kaifeng, Ai Fenming and Shi
Fenying to represent the Jewish minority at the national celebration. Both
members became ardent communist and worked later for the government. According
to Xuxin, the reason that these two Jews were chosen was “that the local
government was aware of the existence of Jews in the city and wanted to ensure
equal rights for any ethnic group living in their region. These two Jewish
descendants were introduced as Jews while in Beijing and were well received
during the celebration.” (For details see: Xu Xin: “Chinese Policy Towards
Judaism.” Points East, vol. 19, No 1, March, 2004 pg. 3-4, and Gustavo
D. Perednik : “The Chinese of Jewish Descent at Kaifeng.” Points East, vol.
23, No. 1, March 2008, pg. 4).
[vii] Han is the Chinese term for Chinese.
[viii] That is how the Jews were called in the 18th
century when the missionaries visited them. For details, see Pollack, Michael, Mandarin
Jews and Missionaries.
[ix] I have met Qianhong on several occasions in China and
we are currently collaborating on joint project.
[x] This is Moshe Zhang’s interpretation of the Maranos
in Spain.
[xi] I am not clear about the meaning of this sentence
neither certain its exact location. Elousi is a Russian minority between the
Uyigur Autonomous Region and Heilongjiang.
[xii] See above fn. 5
[xiii] This is the original stele of the 1489 and on the
other side is the engraving of the 1512 inscriptions. For a full translation of
the Chinese text, see The Kaifeng Stone Inscriptions.
[xiv] An official document.
[xv] For a more detailed explanation of these events, see
Xuxin, “Chinese Policy Towards Judaism.” Points East, Vol. 19 No 1, March,
2004.
[xvi] There was a small but wealthy Jewish merchant
community in Shanghai, e.g. The Sasoons, Kadoori, Hardouns ect. See Goldstein
[xvii] This is another name for the Jews in Kaifeng.
[xviii] This tablet was displayed at the entrance of the
Kaifeng synagogue.
[xix] For a new annotated translation of these inscriptions
in Jewish context, see The Kaifeng Stone Inscriptions, The Legacy of
the Jewish Community in Ancient China. iUniverse 2006.
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