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The Jews of China A glimmer of nostalgia can be
detected in the eyes of 66year-old Shi Zhongyu (pronounced Sh'r Jongyu)
as he recalls Passover rituals in Kaifeng of 1928. Then a seven year-old
boy, Shi watched the substitution for the traditional rooster's blood-colored
paint mixed with water-dabbed over the doorpost of his home, using a Chinese
writing brush. This festival, he recalls, was combined with features of
the Chinese New Year. Another custom, celebrated separately, would take
place in May, when Shi's mother would cook breads containing no yeast. "When
the Hans (ethnic Chinese) celebrate New Year when they have some Buddhist
idols which they worship, " Shi explains. "We didn't have those statues
in our family. We only had the memorial tablets for our ancestors, in front
of which we would place food offerings of mutton rather than the pork used
by other Chinese, to show our respect for our Jewish ancestry. " The story
of China's Jews is supposed to have ended but there are still people in
Kaifeng who claim Jewish ancestry and recall Jewish holidays with rituals
over a century after the synagogue near South Teaching Scripture Lane was
destroyed for the last time. Jewish memories remain, though 150 years have
passed after the last Chinese rabbi in Kaifeng conducted services, taking
with him at his death the last real local knowledge of Hebrew and the
Torah.
If you ask Chinese Jews how many of their ranks remain
nowadays, estimates range from 100 to 300, although it is unclear if they
mean individuals or only male heads of households, since Chinese Jews trace
their male descent as is the Chinese custom. This, of course, raises problems
for other Jews who define their Jewish heritage as matrilineal, according
to halakha (Jewish law) and by this criteria, Chinese Jews are not "really"
Jewish and haven't been so for hundreds of years. In fact, the Reform and
Reconstructionist movement, in adopting patrilineal descent in the 1980's,
legitimized a practice that Chinese Jews trace back at least as far as the
Ming dynasty (1368-1644). A Ming emperor conferred upon the Jews seven surnames
by which they are identifiable to this day: Ai, Lao, Jin, Li, Shi, Zhang
and Zhao. Although other Chinese may have one of these surnames, Chinese
Jews and their descendants will have only one of these seven names. Two
names are of particular interest-Shi and Jin-meaning Stone and Gold respectively,
common surnames today among Western Jews. A Jewish community as such no
longer exists in Kaifeng. Indeed, most of those of Jewish descent do not
even know each other. "In Kaifeng, we Jews have virtually no contact with
each other, " one reported. "Only if someone says, 'My name is Li. I've
heard my grandfather say I'm also a Jewish descendant, ' do we know there
are some common links between us. " But among individuals a strong sense
of ethnic identity remains, and they are eager to share this and learn from
foreign Jews that travel to Kaifeng as part of tours to China. Chinese Jews
boast one of the most amazing histories in the annals of the Diaspora. Archeological
evidence points to a Jewish presence in China as early as the eighth century
with Jews having arrived, most likely, from Persia along the Silk Road.
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