Legends of the Chinese Jews of Kaifeng
by Xin Xu
tr by Beverly Friend
illus by Ting Cheng
reviewed
Posted on 04/13/2006 3:50:36 PM PDT by SJackson
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - As Jews around the world observe the weeklong festival of Passover, a solitary pair in Shanghai are believed to be all that's left of a tide of Jewish immigrants that once filled the bustling Chinese city.
The streets of Shanghai teemed with 20,000 or more European Jews in the first half of the 20th century, many fleeing persecution in Russia or Nazi Germany.
Sara Imas and her son, Jerry, the last remnants of that era, both live in Shanghai today with their Chinese spouses. But only Sara is celebrating Passover this year -- 28-year-old Jerry is not a practising Jew.
"He's completely Chinese," said Imas, who was brought up in Shanghai by her Chinese mother and Jewish father who came here from Russia in 1939.
"But I'll be celebrating it with other Jews, many of them visiting from Russia. People are bringing the special ingredients and dishes from abroad, like the unleavened bread."
Imas, now in her 50s, and her son are the last known descendants in Shanghai of a former community of Jewish European exiles, according to the Israeli consulate.
That community was more than 20,000 strong at its height in 1943 when Japan forced all the city's Jews to move into a ghetto in the area now known as Hongkou in the north of the city.
Nearly all of them left following Germany's defeat in 1945, the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, and the creation of the communist People's Republic of China a year later.
Imas herself eventually went to Israel, where she ran a business selling Chinese spring rolls. She later returned to Shanghai, and is now the China representative for an Israel-based diamond company.
But she acknowledges the occasional identity crisis as she -- like many others of mixed parentage -- tries to reconcile her Jewish and Chinese backgrounds.
"As for me, I am nobody's and I am neither. I pray and go to synagogue here but this is somehow not my hometown," says Imas, who is fluent in both Chinese and Hebrew.
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Reminds me of the kosher Chinese restaurant that I'd hear advertized on
Los Angeles radio: "Ghenghis Cohen".
So wait, how does the synagogue remain open if there is just one Jew?
If there's a synagogue there, it's simply for historical or tourist interest.
How can 100,000 Jews live in Iran, and yet not feel safe enough in Shanghai?
Because under the Shahs (at least the Pahlavi dynasty), the Jews had it very good in Iran. And throughout the Persian history there have been other prosperous periods for the Jews.
Even right now, the Jewish population in Iran is 20,000-35,000. And despite the comments of the Iranian government Jews are alotted one seat in the Parliament. Minimal, but one more than in most, if not all, Arab countries. (Surprised the heck out of me, when I read that in Wikipedia just now.)
"Yo..."
"Yao..."
"Yo."
"Yao."
"Yo!"
"Yao!...Can I write check?"
"Oy...."
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Legends of the Chinese Jews of Kaifeng
by Xin Xu
tr by Beverly Friend
illus by Ting Cheng
reviewed
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