The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-07
CHINESE JEWS.
Origin and Survival Of Q Small Group
 In Interior of Country.

Origin and Survival of a Small Group
 In Interior of Country.
 Albert M. Hyams. in New Era Illustrat-
 ed Magazine.
 Among the many mysteries that the CelestialEmpire conceals within It's vast extent, the origin and survival of the small group of native Jews, still to be found as an attenuated fragment in the inland city of Kai-Fung- Foo, are not the least Interesting. These natives, who are undoubtedly of Hebrew origin. have retained few of the beliefs or ceremonies of their kindred. Success sive misfortunes have come upon the community and reduced its numbers to a few hundreds of poverty-stricken in- dividuals, ignorant of Hebrew and Jew ish literature. hardly conscious of their origin. Nevertheless there are still traces of Judaism to be found in this from the consumption of pork and the use of heather musical instruments at wedding ceremonies. They also, in accordance with Jewish custom, and following the Biblical precept, are care- full to pluck out the sinew, correspond ing to that which was touched by the angel in the struggle with Jacob. from the meat before its preparation as food, hence their Chinese name of Taow-Kin-
  from the Flesh They were also care- ful until recent years to marry only among themselves, and to this con- tinued abstention from intermarriage with the surrounding peoples is att tributed the considerable reduction in the numbers of the community.
 Although very little is Tn reality known of this strange Semitic sect, there are references to 1t in works of lAI. authors even of the later portions of the old Testament the colony does not appear to have been hidden, for in Isaiah there is a distinct reference. By some authorities Cochin China is point ed to as the land from which these wanderers set out in their last journey. and this part of Asia is known to have had Jewish settlers before the Chris tian era. The tradition of the colo nists, however, that their ancestors came by way of Persia and Turkestan shortly after the destruction of the Temple by Titus, and the noticeable traces of Persian in their books and language lend some support to this view. The Taow- Kin-Kedow are re- ferred to in Chinese manuscripts of a very early date. They are also called the Worshipers of Heen-heaven. or the Diety.
 AC came from Si-you or the West coun- try. On the date of their arrival there seems to be very little agreement. It has been put as early as 249 B. C., but the more accepted theory seems to be that they reached the Chinese terri tories between 6S ana 75 A. D., when colonies of these people were known to exist at Kai-Fung- Hansho, Ningpa, Pekin and Ninghin. This lat ter date would have allowed the mig rant to have witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem. Another Chinese au- thority states definitely that in $50 A. D. seventy families landed In Honan, and were settled by the government in Plensiang, where two centuries later large synagogue was built for them. These apparently contradictory ac- counts can, however. be reconciled If the opinion is accepted that more than one immigration of Jews into China took place.
 The synagogue at Kai-Fung- Foo, built by the government, was destroy ed by floods in the middle of the fif- teenth century, and many of its books were lost The damage was to some extent made good by scrolls obtained from the settlements at Ning-Po and Ning-Kea. At the end of the six teenth century another misfortune overlook the community. The syna- gogue that had been restored was again destroyed on this occasion by fire, and the sacred scrolls were this time rec placed from Canton.
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