What is the current situation of Jews? How many Jews are there in China? In which city?

The Jews in China is a rich historical work with pictures and texts. The author is Professor Pan Guang, an outstanding authority on Jewish studies in China. The book introduces the Kaifeng Jewish community with a history of nearly a thousand years and only a few assimilated descendants, hundreds of Baghdad Jewish businessmen who have settled in Hong Kong and Shanghai since the middle of the19th century, many Jewish immigrants from Russia and the Soviet Union (the number reached tens of thousands at the beginning of the 20th century), and tens of thousands of Jewish refugees who came to Shanghai as the only refuge to escape the Nazi Holocaust in the 1930s and 1940s.

The Jewish community in Kaifeng has the longest existence and the earliest disappearance, with only a few descendants. It was eventually assimilated, among many other reasons, mainly because anti-Semitism never appeared in the tradition of China. Later, in the eyes of ordinary China people, Jews were never treated differently from other foreigners. Most Jews who settled in China did not enjoy extraterritorial jurisdiction or other colonial privileges that were unfriendly to China people, so they were regarded as non-dominant foreigners. People who want to make profits will not please them, and patriotic revolutionaries do not need to overthrow them.

However, at that time, the circle of Jewish life was still far away from ordinary China people. They lived in the small world of the concession and formed their own group. Apart from business and music, they have little contact with China people. China's music industry has a good impression on Aaron Afcharomov. He was born in Russia and settled in China. He actively promoted and used China traditional music and folk songs in his works, and also tried to urge modern composers in China to pay attention to traditional music. Besides him, there are many other Jewish conductors, music professors and performers who took refuge from Hitler's clutches and came to Shanghai, leaving their influence on Shanghai's music education.

None of the European Jewish communities formed in China in the last century can last forever. Most of these European Jews came to China as refugees. In their eyes, they are just "travelers in suitcases", but in fact many people have spent a generation or two in China. They have forged a beautiful friendship with the people of China, and many people regard China as their second hometown. Today, many of them come to New China from settled western countries and Israelis to visit and seek their roots, which is a reflection of this China complex.

Because of the above-mentioned "temporary" consciousness, people born and raised in the Jewish community in China seldom engage in China studies, while Jewish scholars in other places are quite active in the field of Sinology. In 1930s, China cultural circles showed greater interest in Jewish culture, and Lu Xun and others translated (often from Russian and English) the works of Yiddish writers Sharon Arreche and Perez. China's works were translated into Jewish decades later: into Hebrew in Israel.

From a cosmopolitan point of view. Marx was the most influential Jew in modern China, followed by Einstein, and was a model and symbol of science. Einstein went to China in the 1920s and made a short stay in Shanghai. Marx has never been to China, but he also attaches great importance to the development of China. He published a series of insightful articles in new york Tribune, commenting on the peasant uprising of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the middle of19th century, and expressing his confidence in China's position in the future development of the world.

This book has a wide range of contents, but it also has some shortcomings. For example, the pictures about Jewish politics make people feel that Zionism has always been the dominant trend of thought, and revisionists are dominant. In fact, there were still many thoughts among Chinese Jews before the war, which can be enriched in the second edition.

An important theme of this book is to introduce the Jews who actively fought side by side with the people of China after the China Revolution and the founding of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and People's Republic of China (PRC). These men and women who fought side by side with the people of China and the China Revolution are not only Jews, but also staunch Democrats, socialists, industrialists or anti-fascists. Historically, this struggle attracted many Jews who were persecuted by the reactionary countercurrent when Hitler was rampant and fought resolutely against it.

Hans. Heep (born in Poland) mentioned in the book, but not introduced separately, is a German journalist from party member. He was killed by the Japanese invaders while marching behind enemy lines in North China with the Eighth Route Army troops, and he still clung to his gun when he died. And Dr. Luo Shengte, an Austrian Jewish refugee, became a general in the New Fourth Army led by the Production Party. Another Austrian doctor and writer, Frith Jensen, was not mentioned. 1955, Kuomintang agents blew up the planes of China delegates and journalists who went to attend the Bandung Conference. Jason on the ship died, and his name was engraved on the monument of the revolutionary martyrs' tomb in Beijing.

There are some people who are not mentioned in the book, and I also want to talk about them. A group of doctors who participated in the anti-fascist international column of 1936- 1939 Spanish Civil War later came to China to fight against Japanese aggression. They are about 20 people, all from Central and Eastern Europe, and more than half of them are Jews, including the team leader Dr. stanislav Flateau (from Poland, who later became a Polish diplomat in New China) and the deputy team leader Dr. Janto Kenedi (a Sefadi Jew in Bulgaria who still lives in Bulgaria). Others worth mentioning are: Hans. Heep's widow Gertrude Rosenberg, a friend and colleague of Soong Ching Ling; Manya Rice, one of the founders of the American Producers' Party, was highly respected when she worked at Xinhua News Agency.

Today, there are 65,438+065,438+0 foreign-born citizens of China in the Committee of China People's Political Consultative Conference, including five Jews, two from Austria, one from Germany, one from Poland and one from the United States. I also need to mention the late CPPCC member, Dr. Hans Miller from Germany, who worked in the medical front in the liberated areas of North China for many years, and then worked hard in the medical front in New China. This book also mentions this point.

Obviously, this book is not the last edition, because the story of friendship between China and Judah will continue, and there will be more things worth recording and writing in the future.

Epstein

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(Epstein, a Jewish citizen of China, member of the Standing Committee of China People's Political Consultative Conference, a famous writer, translator and journalist. )