THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

II

By JOSEPH POLAKOFF

(Copyright 1979, JTA, Inc.)

itt-t

Dan Sandberg
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(Editor's note: Joseph
Polakoff recently visited
the People's Republic of
China and wrote this re-
port upon his return to
the U.S.)
In 1946, the year after the
end of World War II, per-
haps as many as 40,000
Jews lived in China. Mainly
engaged in commerce and
industry — and a consider-
able number in cultural
pursuits, particularly music
— more than half were in
Shanghai and the remain-
der mostly in Tsientsin and
Harbin, the latter a major
point of entry for Jews who
fled from Hitlerism via the
trans-Siberian railway into
China.
Today, Jewish landmarks
are almost completely non-
existent. Among the esti-
mated 900 million Chinese,
perhaps a dozen identifiable

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Jewish Existence in China Can Be Seen in Cultural
Realm and from the Remnants of Several Landmarks

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Friday, December 1, 1919

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Jews remain. Of these, the
American Joint Distribu-
tion Committee assists five
elderly Jews in Shanghai
and a woman in Canton.
Other Jews include sev-
eral in the Chinese govern-
ment service in Peking and
some with Chinese spouses
who reportedly are not rec-
ognized as Jews.
In the Chinese gov-
ernment is Israel "Eppi"
Epstein, a native of China
who emigrated to
Canada and returned to
China. He is in the
Foreign Language Press
in Peking, as is Sidney
Shapiro. Others are Sol-
omon Adler, who was a
U.S. Treasury represen-
tative in Chungking dur-
ing World War II, and
David Kruk, a teacher in
the Foreign Language
Institute.
Present in China are
young American Jews such
as Tom Gold, of Cincinnati,
Ohio, a Harvard exchange
scholar in Shanghai; and
Margo Landman, of New
York, who teaches English
at the university near the
industrial city of Tsientsin.
Jews are known to
have lived in China more
than 1,000 years ago. Yale
Oriental Prof. Kenneth
Scott Latourette in his
book, "The Chinese —
Their History and Cul-
ture" published in 1943,
mentions Jews three
times.
"In the Ninth Century,"
wrote Latourette, "we hear
of Nestorian Christians,
Jews, Moslems and Per-
sians in Canton." Reporting
foreign influence of that
period, Latourette noted
that "Jews there were in
China of the T'ang
(dynasty) but probably few
in number and all mer-
chants. The Jewish com-
munity in Honan which
disappeared only in our own
day was of much later ori-
gin."
A colony of Jews which
has been finally absorbed
into the surrounding popu-
lation only in our own day
built a synagogue at
K'aifeng.
After the Russo-Japanese
War in 1905, some Russian
Jews emigrated to China
but the largest migration of
Jews came with the rise of
the Nazis to power in Ger-
many. By 1939, almost half
of Shanghai's Western
population of about 60,000
was Jewish. Among them
was the former Secretary of
the Treasury W. Michael
Blumenthal, whose parents
brought him as a youngster
from Berlin to escape the
Nazis.
By 1949, nearly all the
Jews had departed,
many leaving behind
businesses and indus-
tries with legal claims
that are not yet settled.
China had become em-
broiled in a bitter civil
struggle and those of
Western influence or ori-
gin were in jeopardy. But
anti-Semitism as such
apparently never existed

in China and the casual
tourist today detects
none.
R.D. Abraham, chief
rabbi of China, was quoted
by the Jewish Student Press
Service last May as saying
in 1956 that "the govern-
ment and people of China
have for centuries been
sympathetic and tolerant
towards our people. Never
has there been anti-Jewish
sentiment in China."
Today, the visitor to
China finds virtually no
trace of Jewish existence. In
Shanghai, Arthur Rosen, a
retired Foreign Service
officer who is now president
of the National Committee
on U.S.-China Relations
with offices in New York,
has reported that there
were three main
synagogues — two Sephar-
dic and one Ashkenazic
with Russian congregants.

In addition, a small
Polish Jewish synagogue
stood in the ghetto near
Soochow Creek. Some halls,
this correspondent was told
on his visit, also were used
for services on High Holi-
days and a Jewish school
functioned in Seymour
Road north of Nanjing
(Nanking) Road, a principal
artery. The Jewish Club, in
the western section of
Shanghai, is now a conser-
vatory, it was said.
All that remains of
these structures are
traces of a Sephardic
synagogue said to have
been a magnificent
three-story structure.
These traces consist of
three seven-light can-
delabra on one pillar and
a fourth on another be-
neath a round roof typi-
cal of Sephardic
synagogal architecture.

Shanghai had two Jewish
cemeteries, but neither now
exists.
Chinese youths play
Western-type instruments
and do exceptionally well
with the violin, and, as
tourists quickly learn, they
delight in offering Ameri-
can and European melodies.
It is of special interest that
the leading dance orchestra
of the pre-war period for
many years was led by vio-
linist Henry Nathan
(Nathanowitz) who came
from Scranton, Pa.
Perhaps the most splen-
did of the many striking
structures along Shanghai's
Bund is the landmark Hep-
ing (Peace) Hotel that was
the acme of hotel architec-
ture when it was completed
in 1927 as the "Palace
Hotel" by the famous
British Jewish Sassoon
family.

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