History of the Jews in China: Encyclopedia II - History of the Jews in China - History

History of the Jews in China - History

• It has been asserted by some that the Jews that have historically resided in various places in China originated with the Lost Ten Tribes of the exiled ancient Kingdom of Israel who relocated to the areas of present-day China. Traces of some ancient Jewish rituals have been observed in some places.
• One group of particular note, the most well-documented and well-known throughout the world, were the Kaifeng Jews, who lived in Kaifeng (Henan province), and immigrated there during the Song dynasty (11th century CE).

History of the Jews in China - Early record

Sources indicate that Jews in China were often mistaken for Muslims by other Chinese, most likely as a result of similar practices and customs. The first plausible recorded written Chinese mention of Jews uses the term Zhu-hu, or Zhu-hu-du (perhaps from Hebrew Yehudim, "Jews") found in the Annals of the Yuan Dynasty in 1329 and 1354. The text spoke of the reinforcement of a tax on levied on "dissenters" and of a government decree that the Jews come en-masse to Beijing, the capital.

However, the earliest recorded information seems to have originated much earlier than that but from outside China. The writings of Ibn Zeyd al Hassan, a 9th century Arabian traveler, states that Jews were one of the sects massacred at Khanfu. It is apparently recorded that by the 8th century, Jews had already become large enough in number that the imperial regime appointed a government position to administer or monitor the population.

Also in the ninth century, ibn Khordadbeh noted the travels of Jewish merchants called Radhanites, whose trade took them to China by four distinct routes.

Noted Italian traveler Marco Polo, visiting China in the late 13th century, indicated the prominence of Jews. Likewise Ibn Batuta, an Arabian envoy to the Mongol Yuan regime.

The first modern Western record of Jews residing in China is found in the records of the seventeenth century Jesuit missionaries in Beijing.

The prominent Jesuit Matteo Ricci received a visit from a young Jewish Chinese named Ngai in 1605, who explained that the community he belonged to was monotheistic, or believing in only one God. It is recorded that when he saw a Christian image of Mary with the child Jesus, he took it to be a picture of Rebecca with Esau or Jacob, figures from Hebrew Scripture. Ngai declared that he had come from Kaifeng, and stated that this was the site of a large Jewish population.

Ricci sent an ethnic Chinese Jesuit to visit Kaifeng; later, other Jesuits (mostly European) also visited the city. It was later discovered that the Jewish community had a synagogue (Libai si), which was constructed facing the east, and housed a great number of written materials and books.

History of the Jews in China - Origins

It has been asserted in oral tradition that the first Jews immigrated to China through Persia following the Roman Emperor Titus's capture of Jerusalem in 76 CE, during the Han dynasty. A European researcher, writing in 1900, hypothesized that Jews came to China from India by a sea route during the Song dynasty between 960 and 1126.

Three tablets with inscriptions found at Kaifeng bear some historical suggestions. The oldest, dating from 1489, commemorates the reconstruction of a synagogue (bearing the name Qīngzhēn Sì, a term often used for mosques in Chinese), and states that 70 Jewish families entered China during the Song period (10-13th centuries). The second table, dated 1512 (found in the synagogue Xuanzhang Daojing Si), was allegedly taken to China during the Han dynasty (3-5th cent. CE). The third is dated 1663 and commemorates the rebuilding of the Qingzhen si synagogue and states that Judaism came to China from India during the Zhou dynasty (690 CE - 705 CE).

One Catholic researcher of the early 20th century showed that Ricci's manuscripts indicate that there were only approximately ten or twelve Jewish families in Kaifeng in the late 16–early 17th century, and that they had reportedly resided there for five or six hundred years. It was also stated in the manuscripts that there was a greater number of Jews in Hangzhou. This could be taken to suggest that the Jews did indeed arrive during the Song, based on the timeframe indicated, and in fact the dynasty's capital was Hangzhou.

History of the Jews in China - 19th century

During the Taiping rebellion of the 1850s, the Jews of Kaifeng apparently suffered a great deal and were dispersed. Following this dislocation, they returned to Kaifeng, yet continued to be small in number and to face hardships, as is recorded in the early 20th century.

Shanghai's first wave of Jews came in the second half of the 19th century. The first Jew who arrived there was Elias David Sassoon, who, about the year 1850, opened a branch in connection with his father's Bombay house. Since that period Jews have gradually migrated from India to Shanghai, most of them being engaged from Bombay as clerks by the firm of David Sassoon & Co. The community was composed mainly of "Asian," German, and Russian Jews, though there are a few of Austrian, French, and Italian origin among them. Jews took a considerable part in developing trade in China, and several served on the municipal councils, among them being S. A. Hardoon, partner in the firm of E. D. Sassoon & Co., who had served on the French and English councils at the same time. During the early days of Jewish settlement in Shanghai the trade in opium and Bombay cotton yarn was mainly in Jewish hands.

• During Shanghai's period as a trading center in the early 20th century, Jews from many Western nations resided and worked there.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki