China's Search for the Secrets of Jewish Success

Tablet Magazine ^ | 1/25/2016 | James Ross

[Borges]

During my first trip to China in the summer of 1985, I visited English Corner in People’s Park in Shanghai one Sunday afternoon. It’s one of the places where young Chinese people used to practice their English with visiting foreigners. Officials from the university where I was teaching in Shanghai escorted me there, and a big crowd quickly gathered to talk with me—a tall, curly-haired foreigner—and pushed closer to shower me with questions.

Some of the questions seemed strange to me (“Do all Americans have AIDS?”) but most were routine, such as, “Where are you from? How do you like China? Are you married? Do you like Chinese girls?” After two months in China, none of this was surprising to me except for one additional question: “What is your religion?”

I was taken aback at first—it’s not a question I often hear when I travel abroad—but after a brief pause I answered, “I am Jewish.” The young questioner gave me a thumbs up and said, “Jews are the best.”

***

In the best-seller The Spirit of Jewish Culture (the English title on the cover is Whats [sic] Behind Jewish Cleverness) by Sai Ni Ya, one of He Xiongfei’s pseudonyms, he writes that Jews “are the most intelligent, mysterious, and the wealthiest people in the world. In a sense, not knowing about Jews equals not knowing the world! When Jews sneeze at home, all the banks in the world would catch a cold one by one. Five Jews together can control the gold market of the humankind; the antagonism between the East and the West, in a sense, can be said to be that between two Jews—Jesus and Marx.”

[gattaca]

ping later

[fishtank]

The world is meant to be governed by the King of the Jews.

There is no King but Jesus.

The Jews have been blessed to have almost 4000 years of Torah-influenced culture. (Not Torah dominated culture, the books of 1st, 2nd Samuel and 1st 2nd Kings bear that out, but I think my summary stands true.)

[capt. norm]

Hard work, long hours, save your $$....

It's fairly simple....the hard work and long hours drive most people off.

[jettester]

Answer: G_d!

[mjp]

to gain a large fortune:

1) develop a way to earn a higher than average rate of profit by providing a new or improved product or using a new or improved method of production, or correctly anticipating changes in demand
2) consume less and save and reinvest more in one's business
3) repeat this process over and over again for a long period of time

[faithhopecharity]

The “save your $$” part ALSO drives some people off from doing it

[M Kehoe]

Here's an idea for Mr. Hu. Read the Torah.

That will be $500 Chicoms.

5.56mm

[aquila48]

And a minor detail such as the 115 IQ of Ashkenazi Jews.

[Read Write Repeat]

One line of mine is Sephardic. I blame that part whenever I misspell or miscalculate something.

BADUMCHING

[aquila48]

Hey, are you antisemite? :)

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

I have many Chinese-born friends. They have all taken American-style first names. I thought it only fair that I have a Chinese pseudonym.

I’m known as Hu Duck Xing.

[Read Write Repeat]

That would mean I hate myself, and I certainly don’t.

[GOPJ]

Most of the Chinese authors who write about Jews really don’t know much about them. They use the success of Jews, especially in business and education, to promote values the Chinese traditionally cherish, such as hard work and knowledge or, in China’s burgeoning market economy, getting rich. Perhaps the Chinese are fascinated by the characteristics they see in Jews that correspond to their own concepts and outlooks.

Bingo!

[aquila48]

I was just kidding.

Ashkenazi- European, Sephardic - more middle eastern (semitic).

[Will88]

The Jews have had what could be called universal education since many centuries before Christ. It started as universal religious instruction and spread into education in general.

Education, discipline, hard work and the knowledge accumulated over centuries and taught to new generations are some primary reasons for Jewish success.

And, homogeneity (shared values) is/has been their strength over centuries.

[Oratam]

"I see. I see, you... you want to learn the secret of our success, is that right? Alright I'll teach you. First of all you start off with a period of several thousand years, during which you have nothing to sustain you but a great bearded legend. Oh my friend you have no land to call your own, to grow food on or to hunt. You have nothing. You're never in one place long enough to have a geography or an army or a land myth. All you have is a little brain. A little brain and a great bearded legend to sustain you and convince you that you are special, even in poverty. But this little brain, that's the real key you see. With this little brain you go out and you buy a piece of cloth and you cut that cloth in two and you go and sell it for a penny more than you paid for it. Then you run right out and buy another piece of cloth, cut it into three pieces and sell it for three pennies profit. But, my friend, during that time you must never succumb to buying an extra piece of bread for the table or a toy for a child, no. You must immediately run out and get yourself a still larger piece cloth and so you repeat this process over and over and suddenly you discover something. You have no longer any desire, any temptation to dig into the Earth to grow food or to gaze at a limitless land and call it your own, no, no. You just go on and on and on repeating this process over the centuries over and over and suddenly you make a grand discovery. You have a mercantile heritage! You are a merchant. You are known as a usurer, a man with secret resources, a witch, a pawnbroker, a sheenie, a makie and a kike!"

--The Pawnbroker (1964)