Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-03
A Settlement of Chinese Jews in the
Heart Of China.
SEVEN FAMILIES NOW REMAIN
Originally Were 5000 Strong and
a Power in the Land.
TEMPLE AND RITES
Written for The Evening Star.


Shanghai, on the banks of the Hoang-ho
Chinese Jews-the sole remnant of seventy
clans. 5000 strong, who came into the ce-
lestial kingdom at the time of Ming-te II,
who regned about 319- A. D.
These seven families represent what at
one time was a power in China-a city of
Jews, so wealthy and esteemed that an en-
peror built a magnificent synagogue for
them and made one of them the treasurer
of great province, another a general in
the imperial army and honored them in
various other ways. Then in the golden age
of Judaism in China these Chinese Jews
prospered to great an extent that they
grew careless in their worship and neglect
ed the God of their fathers. Today their
synagogue Is a mass of ruins, most of it
sold to furnish food for the seven surviving
families, and abject poverty reigns among
them. Their sacred books have been Sold
their religious rites forgotten, their Ian
guage has become mere memory and their
origin one of the mysteries of the mystic
rious orient.
The existence Of Chinese Jews has long
been a mystery, for although their presence
and existence have been established beyond
doubt, yet so much of their history is spec
ulatlVe that the most profound scholars
and students of Jewish and oriental history
nave been at variance as to their origin.
Inc survivors and those and spoken
to during the last two hundred and fifty
years all bore the unmis taxable racial i'm
print of the Jew. There could be no doubt
on that score. Not only that, but they OBJ
served most of the customs of their ances-
tors and worshiped in the orthodox man.
ner. The fact of their Hebraic origin and
descent has not been in dispute, but the
why and the wherefore of their presence
in China has caused considerable contro-
versy among those interested in such mat
tiers.
Lost Tribes of Israel.
Some have held that they were the lost
tribes of Israel but this is wild speculation
especially as China was referred to only
once in the Bible, when Isaiah (49:12) says:
| "Behold-and these from the land of Sinim
(Chna).' At the time of Isaiah, TAO B. c.,
! Tiglath Pieser III, contemporary of Jero-
| beam II, ruled Egypt, and the Jews were
| even then renowned traders whose voy-
| ages extended into the farthest east. If
the Chinese Jews had been the lost tribes,
| Chinese history would in all probability
| have referred to them and their own his
| tory would have done likewise. Neither is
| the case.
| Chinese history asserts that the Jews
came to China during the reign of Ming-te
! II of the Han or Tsn dynasty, about 319.
| The history of the Jews themselves de-
| clares that they came into China 224 A. D.
| from Theen-Chuh (CabuD. Their leaders
were the heads Of the Yen, LIE, Gae, kaou,
Shdou ALL, SHOW, SIliIl, f1WdHS, NEE ana
Tso families. They brought with them
| tribute of Isl yang pu"-cloth from the
western ocean This might serve as a clue
| as to their origin, but it is doubtful as to
| dian ocean, the Red sea, the Mediterran-
can or even one of the inland seas of Asia
Great Immigration.
| In the days of Ming-te II, China was the
most highly civilized nation in the world
and all the world traded with her. Half
dozen caravan roads led across Asia to the
| marts of China and the Jews, following
their occupation of traders, Travelled over
them repeatedly. 1t took go days to travel
from Syria to China. 1t is probable that
| the Jewish traders finding the country fer
tile and the people friendly, advised their
| brethren to emigrate. So huge caravan
| was made up and seventy clans or families
| started for their new home in China. They
| left Yew-tae (Judea) in 224 A D. and trav-
eled by easy stages across Asia. With
| them went rabbis and learned men. who
| carried holy books and the sayings of the
prophets. Finally, after a year of wander
| ing, the caravan arrived at Peen, on the
| Hoang-ho, the kai-fung-fu of today stu
| ated to the south of Pekin. No sooner had
| the caravan arrived than the Chinese be-
| slowed a name upon them-the followers of
| the religion which enjoins the extraction
| of the Observation-Disclosures This referred
| to the Hebrew custom of extracting the
| sinew or nerve of flesh used for food
For many years, nearly six hundred the
| settlement at kai-fung-fu prospered and
| gradually Jewish traders penetrated to all
| parts of the empire. They established an
| important trading station at Ningpo which
| they used as a port of entry. So well did
| they do that in the year 500 another influx
| of Jews took place and the power and in
| fiuence of the settlement increased greatly.
| Chinese history first mentions the Jews in
| the eleventh century, when the annals Of
| one of the dynasties refers to them as hay
| ing served in the imperial army with dis
| tinction and bravery. The next mention is
| found on tablet erected in their temple,
| discovered by a Jesuit in 1911. This tablet
| declares that the religion founded by
| Awoo-lo-han (Abraham), who handed
down the precepts to Mayshe (Moses). The
| synagogue or temple was built in the first
| year of Laughing Of the Sung dynasty in
| the twentieth year of the sixty-tifth cycle
| Q16D Lee-ching and Woo-sze-ta, two rab-
| bis superintendent the construction of the
| temple, while Yen-too-la furnished the
! funds. The structure burned down and
| was rebuilt in 1879 on Thoc-she-tsze street
| on the southeast side.
| Magnificent Temple.
| This temple was seen in the seventeenth
| century by one of the Jesuit fathers, and
according to his description a superb