The Roots of Israelite
“Holy Men” in China
Tiberiu Weisz
“We call ourselves yi-zu-le-ye [Israelites], not Jews” said a Chinese Jew to a Jesuit priest in Beijing in China in the 17th century. The Chinese word was a transliteration of the biblical term for Israel. And just like Western languages had a non- biblical term for Israelites, Jew in English, Jude in German, Juif in French and Yehudi in Hebrew, so did China: youren, 猶人 (holy men) was the word for Israelites in Chinese. Not to be confused with youtairen, the modern term for Jews in Chinese. Youren referred to the Israelite priests and their descendants who lived in China since biblical times; while youtairen is the word used for Jews in general since the mid 19th century.
The word youren first appeared in the Chinese literature in the saying of Laozi, c.a.7th century BCE, who wondered how could the youren [Israelites] remain faithful to their religion with so few followers.
Confucius (551-479 BCE) also mentioned youren in a cryptic message saying: “I am youren”. This sentence puzzled scholars and translators who erroneously rendered it ” I am like others”. Chinese commentators found it unexplainable, and for no better alternative, they accepted the interpretation of Zhu Xi (d.1200 CE), China’s most prominent commentator: “there was a defect in the text”.
Lesser known works in the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) pointed to the erudition of the youren and their lasting impression on the Chinese. They praised the skills of youren [Israelites] for their accomplishments as physicians, healers, and musicians. It became evident the youren had a long history in China, long before the Han Dynasty.
How did youren become associated with Israelites in China?
After the Babylonian exile (536 BCE), the Jewish masses [am ha-arez] were in need of guidance of the Law, so they turned with their questions to men of letters, called scribes. Traditionally, the scribes were the Cohanim and Levites, the priestly class, well versed in the laws of the Torah and the ceremonies of the Temple period. They talked to the people about Temple, Torah, government, holidays, rites etc… but most importantly, they emphasized their priestly roles in Jewish life.
Initially the wisdom of the scribes was transmitted orally, but later, the disciples jotted them down to compile the Mishnah, the original written version of the oral law in Hebrew and Aramaic, and completed in the 2nd century CE.
Eventually, the scribes attained a certain recognition, and to protect their reputation and elevated status, they appended their name with an iah (pronounces yau/yah/you). Thus, an original name of Abbad became Abbadiah, Azar became Azariah, Hanann became Hananniah, Nehem became Nehemiah and so on…
However, when Prophet Ezra demanded the Cohanim and Levites in exile to separate and leave their gentile wives behind, many of them decided not to return to Jerusalem. Instead, they headed eastwards to India. Several generations later, their descendants wandered further East and reached the outskirts of China. According to Chinese sources they established sanctuary in China.
In China, the Israelite priests maintained a low profile. They emphasized modesty, did not glorify themselves, nor their personalities; they remained anonymous, only their wisdom was preserved. They strived to perpetuate the customs of the community as it was before the destruction of the Temple in 586 BCE. Those customs are preserved today, frozen in time, in the four stelae that the Chinese Jews engraved in stones. (For details, see: The Kaifeng Stone Inscriptions.)
(An image of a traveling youren ("holy man") in the 8th century CE as described in the Chinese Encyclopedic Dictionary called Tongdian. -Tiberiu Weisz.
But their anonymity did not last long. The appended iah (pronounced you) to their Hebrew names attracted the attention of the Chinese as it corresponded to the Chinese word of you 猶, that in antiquity meant “monk, priest.” According to the Tongdian, the most comprehensive encyclopedic Chinese dictionary at the times (published in 801 CE), the character you referred to people who serviced temples and performed religious ceremonies. Suitably, the Chinese named the Israelite Cohanim and Levites, youren “holy men.”
As youren, they enjoyed the same privileges as any other monks in China. They were granted land to build their place of worship and follow their beliefs. Over time they realized that their own teachings conformed with many of the Confucian values, and differed only in details. Inevitably, that hastened their rapid assimilation. By the time of the Later Han Dynasty (25 - 220 CE), the youren were so integrated that one Chinese scholar remarked: “they [youren] do things like we do, they are one of us.” Gradually they lost their Israelite identity and became han Chinese, to live in the shadows of the Chinese culture.
The current Chinese government adheres to the policy that youren became han (Chinese) in antiquity, therefore they no longer to be considered Jews. Instead, the Chinese prefer the modern term youtairen for Jews, a relatively new word with no prior history in China. Subsequently, references to youren , as Israelites , have been redacted in the simplified versions of ancient Chinese literature, their history expunged. Fortunately, the original full character archives are preserved in Taiwan.
[For an in-depth history of the “youren” [Israelites] in China, please read my book A History of the Kaifeng Israelites (2018)], and for a translation and annotation of the Chinese stela in a dual cultural context, see: The Kaifeng Stone Inscriptions (2006)]
