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A Visit With The "New Jews" of Kaifeng

The "new Jews" of Kaifeng are not Chinese people who lay claim to a Jewish heritage, they are also not foreigners who are Jewish and live in Kaifeng; rather, these "new Jews" are Chinese students of Judaism in the Institute of Jewish Studies at Henan University.  In July 2008 I had the honor to spend one week with about twelve students and teachers whose academic discipline is Jewish Studies, and a few more who took advantage of the opportunity to practice their English.  It was a once-in-a-lifetime fabulous experience for which I will always be grateful.

Capital of seven dynasties in the Middle Empire, Kaifeng is a large, bustling city with a population of approximately 900,000 where the old and the new coexist harmoniously.  At the beginning of July the students of the Institute of Jewish Studies at Henan University had just finished their academic year.  Ordinarily, most of them would be going home to various cities and villages in Henan Province to visit their families.  But this summer they decided to delay their journeys because a visiting professor was coming to campus.  One student even missed her mother's birthday so she could stay – all to get a chance to practice their English and to learn more on the subject of their studies – Judaism.  In spite of a worldwide Jewish fascination with the Jews of Kaifeng, these young people have very little opportunity to see foreigners face to face and even less possibility of studying with an English-speaking teacher.  My colleague Steven T. Katz from Boston University stopped there last year, giving some lectures – his picture graces the library wall – and Gerry Gotel from the London Centre for Jewish Culture visits them regularly, teaching about Jewish history and life.  Henan Province is the most populated province in China and one of the poorest.  Many of the students come from rural backgrounds, where education is hard to come by, and they are often the first in their family who have the chance to go on to university, if somehow the funds can be found to sustain them for the duration.  One of the students just graduated and will continue with her studies at Nanjing University, where Professor Xu Xin works equally tirelessly to find support for the students in his Diane and Guilford Glazer Institute of Jewish Studies.


Picture of Kaifeng synagogue in local museum
Picture of Kaifeng synagogue in local museum

As the students sit, faces taught with concentration, their fingers fly across the keys of their electronic Chinese-English pocket dictionaries.  What was the word the visiting professor just mentioned?  What does it mean?  Finding the word, they note it in their text before returning to the lecture.  Who are these eager young students?  Kaifeng is well known as the near-mythical place that was once home to a Jewish population, said to have numbered five thousand at its peak in the 16th century.  With their written records lost during the flood of 1642, when the Yellow River's levies were breached by invaders, the Kaifeng Jews gradually assimilated and eventually lost their distinctiveness as a separate ethnic group.  There history has been engraved on three steles that are kept in the Kaifeng Museum.  Alas, the museum was under repair, and I was not able to see the historical records of Jewish life in Kaifeng.  Today the "descendents of the Kaifeng Jews," as they are allowed to call themselves, are not among the 56 recognized Chinese minorities, nor are they one of the five recognized religions in China (Islam, Catholicism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Protestantism are).  This lack of recognition by the Chinese government has not been a deterrent to an interest, one could say, almost a fascination with the Jews of Kaifeng, and the remarkable growth of Judaic Studies programs at a number of Chinese universities, pioneered by Professor Xu Xin at Nanjing University in 1992.


On a summery Friday afternoon, "Crystal," "Joseph," and "Duncan" show their visiting professor the traces of Jewish life still to be found on the former "Teaching the Torah" Lane, a street once home to a vibrant Jewish community and its synagogue.  As we walk down Nanjiaojing Hutong, Duncan points out the still existing house numbers on former Jewish homes.  We stop in front of No. 21, the home of Mrs. Zhao, the widow of a descendent of Kaifeng Jews.  Her daughter, who currently studies in Israel, is a skillful paper cut artist.  As we look around the home, with its menorahs, family portraits and paper cuts, I ask whether they are for sale.  The answer is affirmative, and Mrs. Zhao produces a large stash for me to choose from.  There is a paper cut of the Kaifeng synagogue, the model for which is in Kaifeng's Ancient Guild Hall.  Then there are doves and flowers and a Magen David and the word "Shalom," all skillfully arranged to make an attractive design.  Kaifeng is one of the Chinese cities know for its exquisite paper cuts.  After our visit with Mrs. Zhao, we walk down the street and turn the corner to a building erected over what used to be the well where the Jews of Kaifeng drew their water.  Duncan and Joseph lift the heavy cover in a storage-like area to reveal the hole that once sustained the Jewish community.  Although we are not able to visit the Kaifeng Museum with its steles depicting the history of the Jews of Kaifeng, in the Ancient Guild Hall we see two pictures of the Jewish quarter as it once existed and two of four bowls that used to be in the synagogue.  The other two bowls are in Canada, I am told.  I am not able to determine the use of these bowls, about three feet in diameter.  The students who have become experts on the remnants of the Jews of Kaifeng have also become able and gracious tour guides to foreigners like myself, who still draw stares when walking down the street. The students are not only the guardians of the Kaifeng Jewish past, but the hope for Jewish studies in China for the future.  From Kaifeng, they continue on to study in prestigious Ph.D. programs and become the scholars of the future who know the history and culture as well as the religion of the Jewish people.  They owe it to the memory of the Kaifeng Jews to keep the tradition alive, if not in practice, at least through study.

No. 21 Teaching the Torah Lane, Kaifeng, China
No. 21 Teaching the Torah Lane, Kaifeng, China
Mrs. Zhao's, wife of Jewish 'descendent.' 
Mrs. Zhao's, wife of Jewish "descendent."


The students take their responsibility as the keepers of the remnants seriously.  Not only do they ably act as tour guides, but they are knowledgeable on topics from Israel to Hasidism, from the history of European Jewry to relations between ancient Israel and Egypt, from Jewish music and philosophy to Jewish and Israeli literature.  Their greatest handicap is their lack of resources, especially books, and especially recent scholarly books on Judaism as well as the limited access to internet sources.  As several of us were walking towards the Iron Pagoda one afternoon, another student joined us, holding a piece of paper with the words for the Hebrew song "Shalom Aleichem" in his hands.  "Will you help me practice this," he asked.  Several of the others also knew the song, and so we walked through campus, singing Shalom Aleichem.  A memorable experience!  A few of the teachers have been to Israel, all have some knowledge of Hebrew, and they continuously work diligently to improve their English.  The learning experience was intense.  Every morning the visiting professor gave a three-hour lecture, followed by a delicious lunch at a restaurant near campus.  My hosts were very conscious of my dietary restrictions which made Muslim restaurants our preferred eateries.  Henan Province has a variety of distinctive dishes, and there is no dearth of tasty vegetarian and tofu selections.  The various forms of sweet potatoes, deliciously prepared, were my favorites.  After a brief rest, the tables were turned.  It was the visiting professor who became the student – of Chinese history and especially Kaifeng history.

Joseph with Judaica collection
Joseph with Judaica collection
Dr. Schmidt with paper cut of Kaifeng synagogue and donated books
Dr. Schmidt with paper cut of Kaifeng synagogue and donated books


The most exquisite way to experience Kaifeng life during the Song Dynasty is a colorful night time reenactment of the period based on a finely detailed scroll painting of the Up-the-River-on-the-Pure-and-Bright Festival by Zhang Zeduan.  The painting contains 122 different buildings, 25 ships and boats, 684 figures, and 96 animals, including a camel which was not native to the region, as well as an example of the world's oldest calculator – the acabus.  My thanks to Duncan who wrote up an English introduction to the painting for me.  The city of Kaifeng created a "theme park" based on this painting, and during the summer months the history is reenacted in a spectacular play.  What a breathtaking experience!  Additionally, Kaifeng has a great number of Buddhist monasteries, Daoist and Buddhist temples, a Catholic church, and a very large mosque with an interesting mixture of Arabic and Chinese architecture.  Only the Kaifeng synagogue has receded to near-mythical status.


No serious program of study is complete without a "party" on the final day.  But this is not just any party.  It is an elaborately prepared and orchestrated program of poetry, riddles, and songs directed to the visiting professor in gratitude.  There is also food and drink, all prepared by the students.  The evening began with a speech of gratitude by Professor Zhang Qianhong, to which I responded.  While the "audience" feasted on the delicacies, students took turns making presentations, including a great variety of lovely traditional Chinese songs as well as songs from the Huangmei Opera, with soft and lilting melodies that are quite a contrast to the better-known Peking Opera.  The presentations also included an interesting selection of English-language songs and, most impressive, several Hebrew songs as well as several riddles, none of which I was able to figure out. 


Henan University Museum invited Dr. Schmidt to leave caligraphy greetings
Henan University Museum invited Dr. Schmidt to leave caligraphy greetings

I was attracted to Kaifeng by the inquisitive and diligent students and teachers whom I met at the Shanghai Holocaust Conference last year.  This year's experience was so much more than academic.  To be sure, it was educational, but it was also cultural, social, and very personal.  The tiny cloth heart that one student's mother made for me, the chocolate that students took home to share with their families, the jade bracelet which one of the students presented me with, and the beautiful historical painting of Kaifeng will always be reminders of the keen minds and tender hearts of the students at Henan University who keep Judaism alive in Kaifeng, even without Chinese Jews.

My deepest gratitude to Professor Zhang Qianhong and the Institute of Jewish Studies at Henan University for giving me this fabulous opportunity to get to know one amazing part of China.


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