world >> travel The r Of Being *Jelly Lessons from China. I Irene Shaland Special to the Jewish News F or the Chinese, the "Dao" or "Tao:' is a fundamen- tal concept of cultural philosophy and signifies the way or the path to lifelong self-discovery. During our recent trip to China, our way led us to Henan prov- ince in the central part of the country. My husband and I came in search of a Jewish story, and the story we found was much more than we could have anticipated. It made us feel overwhelmingly blessed and nourished by the unique perception and value of Judaism we discovered in this Chinese culture, a culture much different than ours. • AL kECbRD y Pedi gree ' GENEALOGICAL RECORD, • ,•••••••• INEFAMILTOF11.170 Kaifeng, Henan Province By Chinese standards, Kaifeng is a small town of 600,000 people in a 100-million-people province of Henan, one of the poorest in the country. There, ancient capitals of the great civilization rose and fell over many centuries, nour- ished and ruined by the moody Yellow River. Don't look for Beijing-style skyscrapers in Kaifeng; deep foundations for these buildings would destroy ancient cities below. Not far from Kaifeng, you can find China's oldest Buddhist temple, White Horse Temple, and one of the world's most precious collections of Buddhist cave carvings, Longmen caves. It was in Henan, not far from Kaifeng, that the phi- losophy of peace — Buddhism and the "Dao" of martial arts Kung Fu — forged an unlikely partnership and made the Shaolin Temple the world-famous center of Kung Fu. Kaifeng served seven dynasties as a capital and became one of the world's biggest cities during the Northern Song (10th to 13th century). Kaifeng is also the capital for Jewish history pilgrims. Many Jewish tours center on Shanghai as a safe haven during the Holocaust. In Shanghai, you learn about the Jews in China. To learn about the Jews of China you find no guidebook to pro- vide you with a ready-made itinerary. No site survived to showcase that fascinating aspect of Chinese history, and modern China does not recognize its Jews as one of the country's minorities. You have to come to Kaifeng to find and meet them. Mr. Jin's Family Tomb Mr. Jin is a middle-aged man with a shy, kind smile. He gets into our car on one of Kaifeng's busy streets and in rapid Chinese, shouts to our driver, "This is the way:' Away we go. The smoke-laden city disappears and a narrow bumpy road brings us into what seems to be a different world altogether. It is not just countryside, but some silent place lost in time, dipped in a strange glow; yellow dust on the road, yellow clay on small houses and yellow grass sur- rounding them. Dogs and goats slowly cross the street and join the children playing in the middle of it, and without moving an inch from an approaching car, all are envel- oped in yellow light and golden-colored dust. "This is where:' Mr. Jin says through the interpreter, "the Jews of Kaifeng, who settled in this city during the Song Dynasty (10th to 13th century), buried their dead for centuries:' We arrived at the oldest Jewish cemetery in 34 May 23 • 2013 Mr. Jin and Irene Shaland in front of his marble memorial Esther Zhao and Irene Shaland at the entrance to Esther's house; Shema is visible on the opposite wall. sik0Thr 01 14 41141,111 giall e, Ow irniimi Om) ;to r MI-119+1111- 1- 11 - 1. 1E1 kit TFIrlift,.± - 1 - - 4N lemeon, ' or- NW7-• ThlO -130K The Ste of Kaifeng - ± 1,n*, „• Synagogue Kai Le nt Jut, Zhao . , Ancestral Hall The Kaifeng Jewish History Vemorial Center In the heart of medieval Kaifeng: This is where the Jews lived and prayed for more than 800 years. Ry6Jf f sr Esther ) ael - ka LIN+, hatmat Isom TEL +86-13781152704 The Kaifeng Jewish History Memorial Center in Esther's ancestral home: This ancient building used to be a part of the synagogue structure. China, Guang Zhong Jin's family burial place! We follow Mr. Jin to the small wooded area surrounded by fields and come to a black marble stela, about 3-feet tall, with an engraved menorah on top. "The First Monument of Jews:' announces the stela in Chinese and English. Behind it, on a pedestal of cement is a massive, 5-foot tall, memorial wall, also constructed of black polished marble. "Jin Family Pedigree" reads the title at the top. This marble wall is a memorial book, which presents — engraved in English on one side and in Chinese on another — the 900-year story of Mr. Jin's fam- ily within the context of Chinese history. "Chronological" (narrative) and "Genealogical" (family tree) records, writ- ten there large and flamboyant, and in stone. This is what we learned from Mr. Jin and his marble book. Sometime in the beginning of the 12th century, Mr. Jin says, his first forebear, a Jewish trader on the Silk Road, entered China via India, and settled in what was then called Dongiing or Bianliang (Kaifeng). He was not a pioneer by any means; there already was an established small but thriving Jewish community in Kaifeng. A rich person, that first patriarch bought a family plot south of the city walls, in a place called Caizhuang. The family's original name is lost in time. But this was how Jin's ances- tors, along with other Chinese Jews, got their current names: The first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368- 1644), who liberated China from the Mongols and hated all foreigners, forced Jews to assume Chinese surnames; the family's name became Jin. It is an occupational name, explained Mr. Jin, an equivalent of Goldsmith. Also, at that point, Jewish men started to intermarry with their Chinese neighbors and paternity began to determine the Jewish origin. "Here are my immediate family members:' says Mr. Jin, pointing out numerous unmarked little mounds around us. "My father is here and my brother is over there:' While