Chinese city guaranteed shelter to Nazism refugees; Currently, Jewish community in China is about 5,000
In the 1930s and 1940s, Shanghai was home to the largest Jewish community in China’s history. The largest city in the country received about 20,000 European refugees during the Nazi regime in Germany.
Currently, the population of Jews in China is 4 times smaller than the number of refugees received by Shanghai for about 90 years. According to the World Jewish Congress, the Jewish community in the Asian country is 2,500 to 5,000 people. The highest concentrations of Jews are in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong.
What attracted the Jews to Shanghai during the German Nazi regime was that the city did not charge visas and guaranteed acceptance to Jewish refugees.
Even 7,000 km from Europe, Shanghai was also an option for Jews for being a multicultural city, where English, French, and Russians lived. This facilitated adaptation during the first weeks in the new city.
Panel at the Shanghai Refugee Jewish Museum
The first Jews arrived in Shanghai in 1933 and were well received by the local community, but the persecution would continue on the part of Nazi Germany allies.
In 1941, the Japanese army occupied Shanghai and about 15,000 were confined in the Tilanqiao neighborhood, which became known as the “Jewish ghetto” of Shanghai. The Jews were restricted to an area of 2.5 km square and could only leave this region with permission of a Japanese officer.
The site retains several references from this period of intense Jewish presence. There is one of the two synagogues still preserved in Shanghai. Built by Russian immigrants in 1921, the Synagogue Ohel Moishe became the Jewish Museum in Shanghai.
The other synagogue, named Ohel Rachel, is also standing, but today houses the Municipal Committee of the Chinese Education Workers Union.
Entrance to Ohel Rachel’s synagogue in Shanghai
With the end of World War II and China’s victory against Japan, most Jews left Shanghai to return to Europe or seek other destinations such as Oceania and Latin America. Australia received about 2,000 Jews in China in the late 1940s.
The reasons that led to the departure of part of the Jewish community of Shanghai after World War II are varied. China has plunged into a civil war, which left the situation of several uncertain foreigners in the country.
The desire to rediscover relatives and the Zionist movement that encouraged immigration to Israel – created in 1948 – also influenced the departure of Jews from China.
The Jews of Kaifeng
Prior to Jewish immigration to China in the 1930s and 1940s, there were already Jews in the Asian country. A community known as “Kaifeng Jews” has been living in China for centuries, especially in the city of Kaifeng, Hunan Province. This city has been the capital of the Chinese Empire for 167 years (960-1127).
Its arrival is estimated in the 8th century after Christ, and the reason for the coming of these Chinese Jews is the intense trade of the old silk route. With centuries in the country, the “Jews of Kaifeng” are the most famous arm of Judaism in China.
Their practitioners used to mix Judaism with aspects of Chinese culture. According to the Chinese newspaper South China Morning Postthere are about 1,000 descendants of the “Kaifeng Jews” in China today. Of this total, approximately 20 families still maintain traditions of Jewish culture.
