China is the last place one could imagine a Jewish community, yet once again the Jewish people seem to find themselves deeply immersed in the culture and history of a foreign nation.
It is commonly agreed by academics that there has been a Jewish presence in Kaifeng since the Northern Song Dynasty of 960 to 1127, though some date the first arrival as slightly earlier. Kaifeng at this time was a busy city off of a main trade route and it is generally believed that the Jews arrived from Persia or India by sea.
Jews clearly chose to settle in Kaifeng specifically to take advantage of its strong trading position and business potential. The Jews in Kaifeng are said to have built the first synagogue as early as 1163 along with a mikve and sukkah.
One of the emperors from the Ming Dynasty of 1368-1644 gave the Jews of China seven surnames which they are still identified by today: Ai, Shi, Gao, Jin, Li, Zhang and Zhao. Interestingly, the Jin and Shi surnames are the equivalent of the common Western Jewish names: Gold and Stone.
Europeans knew nothing of the existence of the Chinese Jews until 1605 when Matteo Ricci, an Italian Priest, came across a Jew from Kaifeng in Beijing. This Kaifeng Jew told him of the large number of Jews in Kaifeng and of their “splendid synagogue” and the many books and written materials that the Kaifeng Jews possessed.
These Jews managed to preserve their faith despite their isolation from the rest of the Diaspora. This strong faith that was maintained despite the odds for centuries began to erode in the seventeenth century due to widespread assimilation. When the synagogue was destroyed in the 1860s the community fell apart completely. However, the Jews still had a separate burial place of their own.
Picture of Earth Market Street in Kaifeng in 1910. The Synagogue was off to the right of the stores on the right side. The stele of 1489 mentions that the Kaifeng was at the intersection of Earth Market Street and Fire God temple lane. (photo credit: Pic from Vol. 2, p. 18 of Chinese Jews (1966) by Bishop William Charles White/public domain/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:East_Market_street,_Kaifeng.JPG)
Since their “rediscovery” in the 19th century, overseas Jewish communities generally have been indifferent toward the descendants of the Kaifeng Jews. Interest in Judaism and the Jewish experience was rekindled with the influx of 25,000 Jews to Shanghai fleeing from the Nazis. In 1992 China and Israel established diplomatic relations in 1992.
It is incredibly difficult to estimate the number of Jews in China: Numbers often change because of a change in official attitudes. Some of the descendants of Kaifeng’s Jewish community claim that their parents and grandparents told them that they were Jewish and that they would one day return to their land.
As the Kaifeng Jews intermarried with the local Chinese neighbors they are indistinguishable in appearance from the non-Jewish Chinese community. The one large difference between the Kaifeng Jews and their neighbours is that they will not eat pork.
Interestingly, Chinese Jews base their Jewishness on paternal descent. As a result of this, in Israel they are required to undergo conversion in order to receive Israeli citizenship under the law of return.
While there are no kosher restaurants or even synagogues that remain, Kaifeng represents an incredible story in the Jewish Diaspora and is a fantastic tourist destination to experience the history of these unique Jews of China.
