History of the Jews in China

The history of the Jews in China goes back to antiquity. Modern-day Jews in China are predominantly composed of Sephardic Jews and their descendants. Other Jewish ethnic divisions are also represented, including Ashkenazi Jews, Mizrahi Jews and a number of converts to Judaism.

The Jewish Chinese community manifests a wide range of Jewish cultural traditions and it also encompasses the full spectrum of Jewish religious observance. Though a small minority, Chinese Jews have had an open presence in the country since the arrival of the first Jewish immigrants during the 8th century CE. Relatively isolated communities of Jews developed through the Han and Song dynasties (7th to 13th centuries CE) all the way through the Qing dynasty (19th century), most notably the Kaifeng Jews (the term "Chinese Jews" is often used in a restricted sense in order to refer to these communities). In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Jewish merchants from around the world began to trade in Chinese ports, particularly in the commercial centres of Hong Kong, which was for a time a British colony; Shanghai (the International Settlement and French Concession); and Harbin (the Trans-Siberian Railway). In the first half of the 20th century, thousands of Jewish refugees escaping from pogroms in the Russian Empire arrived in China. By the time of the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, only a few Jews were known to have maintained the practice of their religion and culture. Since 2015, descendants of the Kaifeng Jews have come under government pressure and suspicion.

The presence of a community of Jewish immigrants in China arguably began sometime in the Song dynasty, but a number of scholars have argued for its presence in China during the earlier Tang dynasty. In the 9th century, the Persian geographer Ibn Khordadbeh noted the travels of Jewish merchants called Radhanites, whose trade took them to China via the Silk Road through Central Asia and India. He mentioned the presence of Jewish merchants in a number of Chinese cities, and the important economic role they played transporting merchandise as well as transmitting scientific and technological expertise all the way from Spain and France via the Middle East to China by land and by sea. The medieval Italian explorer Jacob of Ancona, the supposed author of a book of travels, was a scholarly Jewish merchant who wrote in vernacular Italian, and he reached China in 1271, although some authors question its veracity.

When the Ming Dynasty closed off the Silk Road by land, Ningbo became an important trading port on the Maritime Silk Road. The 1489 stone tablet stated that the Jewish communities of Ningbo and Kaifeng had a very good relationship with each other and that after the Kaifeng Jews lost their holy texts during a flood in 1461, the Ningbo Jews gave two Torah scrolls to their brethren in Kaifeng. The tablet stated, "When the synagogue was rebuilt, Shi Bin, Li Rong, and Gao Jian, and Zhang Xuan went to Ningbo and brought back a scroll of the Scriptures. Zhao Ying of Ningbo brought another scroll to Kaifeng and respectfully presented it to our synagogue". It is believed the Ningbo Jewish community was fairly sizable for a smaller one would not be able to spare two Torah scrolls. The availability of these scrolls could also mean the Ningbo Jewish community was vibrant and observant. The descendants of the Ningbo Jewish community moved out of Ningbo to Shanghai and Hong Kong in the early 20th century due to war and to seek better economic opportunities; they have built a reputation for achieving immense success in the business, science and media industries.

During the period of China's opening to the West which coincided with the period of British quasi-colonialism, the first group of Jews who settled in China consisted of Jews who arrived in China under British protection following the First Opium War. Many of these Jews were of Indian or Iraqi origin, due to significant British colonialism in these regions. The second Jewish community settled in China during the first decades of the 20th century when many Jews arrived in Hong Kong and Shanghai during those cities' periods of economic expansion. Many more Jews arrived as refugees from the Russian Revolution of 1917. During the late 1930s and 1940s, a surge of individual Jews and a serge of Jewish families settled in China for the purpose of seeking refuge from The Holocaust in Europe and they were predominantly of European origin. Shanghai was notable for its special area established for the housing of Jewish refugees, most of them left after the war, the rest of them relocated either prior to or immediately after the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

Some Jews who lived in China converted to Islam and became Hui Muslims.^{[excessive citations]}

A manuscript states that they prayed in both Hebrew and Chinese.[1] Ancient Jewish communities in China adapted well to the Han Chinese customs, including patrilineal descent and intermarriage with Han Chinese, while maintaining their Jewish identities. Over the centuries, most of the Jewish community came to be virtually indistinguishable from the Han and Hui Chinese population. Due to the fact that Chinese Jews historically hold a strong Chinese identity, the current government does not recognize them as one of the 56 ethnic minorities.

Since their religious practices are considered functionally extinct, under the Law of Return, they are required to undergo conversions to Orthodox Judaism in order to become eligible for expedited immigration to Israel.