Chinese Culture Chinese Religions

Jews in China Wikipedia

Jew
Jews in China have historically been divided into several populations of China|Chinese Jews.

• There is some speculation that segments of the Lost Ten Tribes of the exiled ancient Kingdom of Israel may have been transferred to the areas of present-day China. Traces of some ancient 613 mitzvot|Jewish rituals have been observed in some places.

• One group, the Kaifeng Jews, lived in Kaifeng and immigrated there during the Song dynasty.

• After the Russian Revolution of 1917, several thousand Russian Jews moved to Harbin.

• Another wave of 25,000 Jews, from Germany immigrated to Shanghai in the 1930s. Shanghai at the time was an open city and did not have restrictions on immigration. After Japanese invasion of Shanghai in 1941, these Jews were detained by the Japanese in few concentration camps in Hongkou District in northeastern Shanghai. The total number of Jews entering Shanghai during this period was the number of Jews fleeing to Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa combined. However before this wave of refugees, there were already some successful Jewish businessmen living in Shanghai.

After World War II and the establishment of the Communist regime in 1949, most of these Jews immigrated to Israel, although a few remained.

Last Modified:   2005-04-08