Synopsis

From the ninth century on, there was an indigenous Jewish community in the city of Kaifeng in northeastern China. Separated by thousands of miles from the rest of the world, and largely cut off from contact with the main centers of Jewish life, the Kaifeng Jews developed a distinctive culture that was unquestionably Jewish, but progressively absorbed Chinese elements. Their greatest problem was not separation from other Jews so much as the openness and tolerance of Chinese society. Intermarriages occurred frequently, and Jews were fully accepted as merchants, government officials, and neighbors. Over time, they were so completely assimilated that few of their descendants carry any memory of Jewish ancestry and physically look much like other Chinese. The story of the Kaifeng Jews is dramatic and colorful, and offers many profound lessons. It will be indispensable to anyone interested in Jewish or Chinese history.

Library Journal

This fascinating, thoroughly researched, and carefully written book makes a substantial contribution to the field of the history of Chinese Jewry and in particular to our understanding of the Jews of Kaifeng. For a long time, scholars doubted that the Kaifeng Jews, an indigenous community in northeastern China since the ninth century, had much of an attachment to their Judaic heritage, as they were isolated from the main centers of Jewish culture and were highly assimilated. But Xu Xin (Nanjing Univ.; Legends of the Chinese Jews of Kaifeng) argues for the distinct Jewishness of the community. He weaves legends, inscriptions, histories, biographies, religious texts, writings of missionaries, and travelers' stories into his dramatic and colorful narrative, making his work crucial to anyone interested in Chinese history and the Jews of China. The foremost authority today on the history and sociology of Kaifeng Jewry, Xu Xin has used scholarly sources, compared them, and made choices based on prior research and study. With an excellent bibliography and index, this book is highly recommended for all libraries with collections of Jewish history, Chinese history, and religion in general.-David B. Levy, Beth Avraham Synagogue Lib., Baltimore Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.