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Topic: Kaifeng Jews

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	Kaifeng Jews - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		It is surmised that the ancestors of the Kaifeng Jews came from Central Asia.
		The existence of the Jews in China was still largely unknown to the rest of the world until Matteo Ricci met a Jew from the Kaifeng community by accident at the beginning of the 16th Century.
		Kaifeng is home to a dynamic Muslim community, which is very cohesive, having survived 50 years of isolation and officially-sanctioned hostility (largely, presumably, because of the relationship between the Hui, Uyghur, and Kazakh ethnicities and the Chinese government).
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Kaifeng_Jews (1517 words)

	History of the Jews in China - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		A surge of Jews and Jewish families was to arrive in the late 1930s and 1940s, for the purpose of seeking refuge from the Nazis in Western Europe and were predominantly of European origin.
		Over the centuries, the Kaifeng community came to be virtually indistinguishable from the Chinese population and is not recognised by the Chinese government as a separate minority.
		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.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Jews_in_China (2308 words)

	China Judaic Studies Association - Articles - Kaifeng
		He learned that the surviving Jewish community in Kaifeng included many families who observed religious practices centering in the synagogue and observed most of the traditional festivals, abstained from eating pork, circumcised their sons and followed the laws of Moses in ways that were similar to the practices of Jews in Europe.
		European theologians were especially interested in the Kaifeng torahs and wanted to see and compare these bibles with their own because some Christian theologians had concluded that the rabbis of the Talmudic Era had blasphemously expunged or altered a number of verses predicting the birth and ministry of Jesus.
		This banishment of missionaries is important in the history of the Jews of Kaifeng because it also returned the Jews to their isolated state as contact with them again came to a halt for over a hundred years.
	servercc.oakton.edu /~friend/art_kaif3.html (3074 words)

	Are There Really Jews in China?: An Update
		Approximately 1000 Jews responded as a group and formed a community, which reached its peak in the Middle Ages, when Jews from Western and Southern Asia (principally Iran, Afghanistan and India of today) were actively involved in the China trade.
		Beginning with the settlement of Jews in Shanghai, Canton and Hong Kong in the nineteenth century, some efforts were made to bring the Jews of Kaifeng back into the Jewish fold, but all of these came to naught.
		Jews from both communities are in the process of forging contacts with the other countries of the Pacific rim.
	www.jcpa.org /dje/articles2/china.htm (2165 words)

	Exploring Chinese History :: Chapter 8, Section b2- Judaism (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Over the centuries, the Kaifeng community came to be virtually indistinguishable from the Chinese population and is not recognized by the Chinese government as a separate minority.
		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 and 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. Hardoon, partner in the firm of E. Sassoon and Co., who had served on the French and English councils at the same time.
	www.ibiblio.org /chinesehistory/contents/c08sb02.html (2210 words)

	Judaism: Among the Jewish Descendants of Kaifeng (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Jews of Kaifeng during the early days of their settlement maintained close contact with the communities from which they came.
		Kaifeng legend has it that one of the Song Emperors was so delighted with the multi-hued cotton cloth being sold by the seven newly arrived Jewish families that he encouraged them to stay and bestowed upon them his surname and the surnames of six of his ministers.
		Thus, the Jews of Kaifeng were rediscovered by the West in 1605 C.E. by a jesuit priest.
	www.findarticles.com /p/articles/mi_m0411/is_1_49/ai_61887413 (1566 words)

	Gene Expression: Echoes of distant Kaifeng (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		From Melvin Konner's Unsettled - An Anthropology of the Jews:
		If the Jews of Kaifeng had disappeared as an organized community in 1600 instead of 1800 before the arrival of European priests interested in their culture it might be that they too would be a myth, and those Chinese who claimed Jewish ancestry would be dismissed as attempting to appropriate an exotic identity.
		If a Jew converted to either of the "daughter" religions he or she was implicitly cutting themself off from their own people and making a unidirectional transition (ie; reversion back to Judaism was proscribed by the dominant religions, at least in form if not always in practice).
	www.gnxp.com /blog/2005/08/echoes-of-distant-kaifeng.php (2095 words)

	Guest Features GantsehMegillah.com
		If you ask Chinese Jews how many of their ranks remain in the 1980's, estimates range from 100 to 300, although it is not clear if they mean individuals or only male heads of households, since Chinese Jews trace their descent, as is the Chinese custom.
		It was not until the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci was called upon by Ai Tian, a Kaifeng Jew, in 1605, however, that the existence of this exotic community came to the attention of the West.
		The Chinese Jews, however, added Hebrew characters above the proclamation, which the non-Jews could not understand: This was the Shema, the Jewish statement of faith, and it was put above the Chinese characters so that the Jews and God alone knew that He was the highest of all.
	www.pass.to /tgmegillah/features1.asp?id=49 (3556 words)

	He Chose China
		Among the last of a dying breed of fervent American fans of Communism, is one aged author who explores the mysteries of the ancient Jews of Kaifeng.
		The first Jesuit missionaries posted to China four hundred years ago enthusiastically described the discovery of a lost tribe of Chinese Jews in Kaifeng, but admitted bafflement over their exact origins.
		Shapiro’s "Jews in Old China," a collection of papers by Chinese scholars about the Kaifeng Jews, was reissued this year (Hippocrene Books; 256 pages; $14.95) with three new chapters.
	www.gluckman.com /Shapiro.html (1713 words)

	MACHAR, The Washington Congregation for Secular Humanistic Judaism (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		Jews started traveling to Kaifeng in the 3rd century AD and Shanghai grew in its population of Jews in the 20th century between World War I and World War II.
		The Jews who came to Kaifeng were in search of a new life, for they had been persecuted and driven out of their homes.
		Plus the time period that the Shanghai Jews went there was in the 20th century, whereas the Kaifeng Jews fled in ancient times.
	www.machar.org /chinajews.html (1446 words)

	Kaifeng : In Depth \| Frommers.com
		Although inscriptions on the 1663 stele points record the arrival of Jews during the Zhou dynasty (1100-221 B.C.), it is now more widely accepted that the early Jews likely came from Persia via the Silk Routes sometime in the late 10th century during the Sòng dynasty.
		The Jewish community continued to worship in Kaifeng until the flood of 1852 again destroyed their synagogue, which was never rebuilt after that.
		Today, with renewed interest in the Jews of Kaifeng, there are a few self-identified Chinese Jews making themselves known again, the most notable being Zhang Xingwàng, who has been working with the Kaifeng Museum to preserve the history of Kaifeng's Jews.
	www.frommers.com /destinations/kaifeng/3370010012.html (352 words)

	A Jewish Diaspora in the Orient
		Kaifeng, the imperial capital of China during the Sung Dynasty was an international, prosperous city.
		Documents in Judeo-Persian were found attesting to the fact that the Jews probably came in the 11th century from Persia and introduced cotton-cloth to China, known primarily for its silk industry.
		Kaifeng Jews were actually discovered by the outside world by European Christians, not fellow Jews.
	www.wzo.org.il /en/resources/view.asp?id=1473&subject=50 (1423 words)

	Jewish Web Index - Make it easier for you to do your personal research
		And likewise, Jews were in charge of the caravans to the Far East in the early centuries of the first millennium, because they expected to interact with their co-religionists who were already there.
		The Jews of Kaifeng, he stated, observed most traditional festivals, refrained from eating pork, circumcised their infant sons, and generally followed the Laws of Moses, as similar to observant Jews Ricci had seen in Europe.
		The clan in Kaifeng, over the years, was not able to continue a Jewish matrilineal desendence, due to the small size of the Jewish community; and because of the cessation of continued contact with foreign Jewish communities, by virtue of imperial decree.
	jewishwebindex.com /chinese_jews.htm (9757 words)

	pt1ch1 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		The proliferation of scribal errors in the surviving Chinese scrolls becomes understandable when it is realized that during the years in which these scrolls were written the Jews of Kaifeng had already been cut off for several generations from all contact with Jewish communities outside their country.
		In their isolation, it was inevitable that the Kaifeng Jews should gradually become deficient in their knowledge of the language of their forefathers.
		Some of the errors occurring in the literature distort the history of the peregrinations of the Kaifeng scrolls since they were originally purchased; and it is by no means uncommon to encounter reports that turn out to be utterly misleading in their treatments of the physical and textual specifics of the individual exemplars.
	www.smu.edu /bridwell/html/pt1ch1.html (1166 words)

	China Judaic Studies Association - Book Reviews
		The Kaifeng Jews themselves, isolated as they were from Jews in the rest of the world and treated with great tolerance by their Chinese hosts, gradually lost contact with their own traditions and customs.That is not to say, however, that the story of China’s Jews has been lost.
		Driven from Turkey by the familiar diaspora experience of anti-Semitism, the Jews of Kaifeng learn that in China the greatest danger to their survival as a recognizably Jewish people is the tolerance and openness of Chinese society.
		He holds a huge imperial banquet in their honor and confers on the Jews seven surnames, one of which is his own, by which Jews might be recognized through the hundreds of years of their presence.
	servercc.oakton.edu /~friend/book_legends.html (1456 words)

	The Sino-Judaic Insitute
		The Sino-Judaic Institute (SJI) is a non-denominational, non-political and non-profit organization which was founded in 1985 by a group of international scholars and lay-persons for the purpose of promoting understanding between Chinese and Jewish peoples and to encourage and develop their cooperation in matters of mutual historic and cultural interest.
		Primary among these are the ancient Jewish community in the city of Kaifeng and the later immigrant Jewish communities of Shanghai, Harbin, Tianjin, and Hong Kong.
		Its aim was to counteract stereotypes and misinformation about Jews spread by the introduction of Western culture.
	www.sino-judaic.org (159 words)

	kosher chinese restaurants london kosher england
		Completely unknown to the western world, the Jews of Kaifeng maintained a synagogue, mikvah, kept kasruth and practised the rite of circumcision for nearly 1000 years.
		The community prospered in Kaifeng but many times their synagogue was damaged or completely destroyed by flooding from the Yellow River.
		However, Father Matteo wrote to the Vatican with the news of the Jews of Kaifeng.
	www.kaifeng.co.uk /jewsofkaifeng (495 words)

	The Wandering Jew: The Jews of Kaifeng
		Kaifeng is situated perilously close to the banks of the Yellow River, and every few years or so a terrible flood would strike the town, leaving devastation in its wake.
		The answer is that in its everyday non-religious aspects the life of the Kaifeng Jews was not very different from that of their neighbors.
		They dressed like their countrymen, wore pigtails (a custom decreed by the Qing conquerors of China to symbolize the submission of the Chinese to their new rulers), bound their daughters' feet, spoke the local dialect, and engaged in the same occupations as the people among whom they lived.
	wanderingjew.typepad.com /the_wandering_jew/2005/05/the_jews_of_kai.html (645 words)

	A Visit to Kaifeng China
		The Rabbi was less concerned with Ricci's aberrant belief in the Messiah (which he took to be a personal idiosyncrasy) than with his not obeying the dietary laws, and said that the job was his if he would give up eating Pork.
		Needless to say, the Kaifeng torah scrolls were found to be exactly like the ones in Europe.
		wept, he had answered that although he wasn't a Jew, as a Chinese he was moved by the respect shown to ancestors.
	www.haruth.com /AsiaKaifeng.html (3038 words)

	Kaifeng - Define Your World of Kaifeng by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia. (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
		The Jews of Kaifeng, China: History, Culture, and Religion
		In addition to his documentation of the Jewish community in Kaifeng, he has also written many articles about the Jews of Shanghai, Harbin, Tianjin, Hong Kong, and Taiwan and about Jewish literature...
		Kaifeng Gaoda New Type Refractory factory,a private-own stock company, expert in researching,developing, producing, selling of high technology unshaped refractory and its...
	www.valuesponsor.com /encyclopedia/Kaifeng (294 words)

	HADASSAH MAGAZINE
		According to a story handed down for over a thousand years among the Jews of Kaifeng, a Chinese emperor wearied of twisting his tongue around the outlandish names of his Jewish subjects and imposed on them his own family name and the names of six of his ministers.
		Kaifeng Jewish descendants know from their family names and traditions that an unbroken Jewish line on their paternal side stretches back about a thousand years; a group of Persian Jews traveled the legendary Silk Road to the bustling metropolis of Kaifeng, capital of the ruling Song Dynasty, and what proved to be a welcome home.
		Some Jews identify themselves as Muslim to circumvent the one-child-per-family ruling (unlike the Jews, Muslims are a recognized minority); others prefer calling themselves Han rather than show commitment to Judaism.
	www.hadassah.org /news/content/per_hadassah/archive/2005/05_JAN/ltr-israel.asp (1998 words)

	The Jews of China
		Lack of a rabbi and the dilapidated state of the synagogue were prime reasons for the diminishing confidence of the Jewish community in their future.
		Given that Judaism has been traced patrilineally in Kaifeng for centuries, Zhao finds himself in a peculiar position: He is one of the few Chinese Jewish descendants with an extensive knowledge of his people's history and only daughters-five of them-to pass it on to.
		Shi is working with Wang Yisha, former curator of the Kaifeng Municipal Museum, who probably knows more contemporary Chinese Jewish descendants than anyone else, to reconstruct the genealogies of the Kaifeng Jews, in particular of the Shi clan.
	www.pass.to /newsletter/jews_of_china.htm (3586 words)

	Jewish Language Research Website: Judeo-Persian
		The Jews spoke their local dialect, with some "Jewish" traits, just as their Muslim, Christian, or Zoroastrian neighbors spoke basically the same dialect, with their own communal, professional, or caste-based traits.
		The spelling was sometimes phonetic, due to the lack of Muslim education.These lapses in orthography are important for determining the historical Persian pronunciations.
		Leslie, D. The Judeo-Persian Colophons to the Pentateuch of the Kaifeng Jews.
	www.jewish-languages.org /judeo-persian.html (1513 words)

	Recognition of the Kaifeng Community
		I was very happy to receive your e-mail regarding your interest in the Kaifeng Jews (as well as Jewish communities around the world), and in support of our video.
		I discovered that Jews in fact have a very long history in China, having built their first synagogue in Kaifeng in the Southern Song, acting as administrators for the Mongols, gaining high office during the Ming, and assimilating during the Qing.
		Of course I think the video we are producing can be an important tool for educating Jews and non-Jews around the world about the Kaifeng Jewish community, and perhaps eliciting their support on a global scale.
	www.kulanu.org /china/recognizekaifeng.html (975 words)

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