Blue Hat Hui--The Story of Jews in Kaifeng, Henan

It was not until Matteo Ricci, a Catholic Jesuit in China at the end of the Ming Dynasty, that the Western world knew that there had been settled Jewish settlements in China from an early age. For a long time, China called them the "blue-hatted Hui" to distinguish them from the "white-hatted Hui" Islam. The Kaifeng Jews called themselves the "tendon picking religion" by removing the tendons when slaughtering cattle and sheep (according to legend, the Jewish ancestor Jacob also translates "Jacob"). One of the three great fathers of Israel. His life stories are recorded in detail in the Book of Genesis in the Bible. Jacob was the second son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham (pronounced Ibrahim in Arabic). When he was born, he grabbed his twin brother Esau's heel with his hand, so he named him "Jacob"(meaning "grasping"). He sprained his thigh when wrestling with others, so this custom exists.] It was not until the publication of Mr. Chen Yuan's important textual research work "Kaifeng Yi Ci Le Jiao Kao" in modern times that the academic circles truly began to understand the origin of the Kaifeng Jews from the records of China historical records. Later, Mr. Pan Guangdan made an incisive textual research on "Several Historical Issues of the Jews in China." What makes people sigh is that Mr. Pan's book was written in 1953 and didn't come to light until 1983. The whole story during this period was another sad story with blood and tears. There must be another text Let us discuss it from the beginning over the past thirty years.

Archaeologically speaking, although letters and prayers written in Hebrew as early as the 8th century AD were unearthed in Hetian, Xinjiang, and Dunhuang, Gansu Province (Figure 2), the existing Kaifeng Museum's Inscription on the Restoration of Mosques can be said to be the most conclusive evidence of Jewish settlement in Kaifeng. From this inscription in the second year of Hongzhi (1489) of Tongming Dynasty, we can see that Kaifeng Jews began to reproduce here at least since the Northern Song Dynasty.

Of course, according to the inscription on the cover of the "Notes on the Rebuilding of the Mosque","Notes on Respecting the Taoist Classics of the Temple"(completed in the seventh year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty, in 1512), there is a saying that the Jews of Kaifeng "later lived in China from the Han Dynasty." According to rubbings of the inscription of another "Notes on the Rebuilding of the Mosque"(completed in the second year of Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, in 1663) that only exists in Rome, this Jewish settlement later claimed to have come to China as early as the Zhou Dynasty: "Religion began in Tianzhu, spread in Zhongzhou during the Zhou Dynasty, and the temple was built in Daliang." But I found that this is just like the rule that Mr. Gu Jiegang, a master of the School of Ancient History, said decades ago. The more recent the times, the more advanced the times are. Some people speculate that the Kaifeng Jews only opened this statement to prove that they came to the East early in order to prevent discrimination from the surrounding Han and other ethnic groups. It was just a psychological self-defense.

Of course, the Jews in Kaifeng had never heard of the word "Judaism" until it was mentioned by the Jesuits in the late Ming Dynasty, claiming to be "a gift of joy"(Israel). In addition, there was no custom of celebrating "Hanukkah". These clues and differences suggest that they may have separated from the center of Jewish culture at an early time and have not made contact with it since. However, it is also possible that he stayed for a long time before coming to China. According to the word "from India" recorded in the "Notes on the Rebuilding of the Mosque Stele", some people believe that they arrived in India first and only set off to Kaifeng a thousand years later. Before more historical materials are discovered, it is difficult to tell.

The origin of the Jewish settlement in Kaifeng may not be easy to explore, but the decline of this settlement can still be traced.

Kaifeng was the capital of the dynasty during the Northern Song Dynasty and was extremely prosperous. We can see the prosperity of this in the images in "Shanghe Painting at the Qingming Festival" and the words in "Tokyo Dream Hualu". According to the "Notes on the Rebuilding of the Mosque Stele", the Jews of Kaifeng in the Song Dynasty should have been quite active and prosperous. Otherwise, after they "paid tribute to the Western Ocean in the Song Dynasty", they would not have alarmed the emperor in a prosperous age to issue an edict to a small foreign tribe such as "Return to our Middle Xia, abide by the ancestral customs, and leave the Bianliang legacy." This is undoubtedly the most authoritative endorsement of the legal immigration and settlement of Jews in Kaifeng. With this amulet, the Jews, who have been chased down by many nations and countries in history, are self-evident in their gratitude. When the Jews in Kaifeng built a church in 1134 AD, Kaifeng was occupied by the Jin Dynasty of the Jurchen regime. The Song Dynasty had fled south and settled in a corner. According to chronological customs, it should be recorded as the third year of Dading of the Jin Dynasty, but they recorded in the Ming Dynasty. It is recorded in the inscriptions that "In the first year of Xiaolongxing of the Song Dynasty, at the end of Guiwei, Wu Sida led the teaching, and the temple was built in Andula." The kindness of a drop of water is repaid by the spring. The central government's little care for a weak nation is still repaid in detail by the latter hundreds of years. This cannot but be said to be a success of the ethnic policy.

During the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the Jews in Kaifeng gradually entered the "mainstream" society of the Han nation. Retired from office, went into business as a doctor, and there are clear histories. With political and economic strength, the Jewish community was able to survive and continue.

The synagogue in Kaifeng was built in the first year of Longxing of the Song Dynasty, rebuilt in the 16th year of the Yuan Dynasty, and rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty. But then there were big twists and turns. First, the Yellow River will flood the next day in the fifth year, flooding the church, leaving only the foundation of the temple. However, at that time, the Jews in Kaifeng were still strong and enthusiastically donated money."They prepared their assets and made a deep cover and made up of bright gold to give a completely new look","The external corridor and the front hall are a permanent plan." These accounts on the monument in the second year of Hongzhi should not be exaggerated. If you have the honor to visit the existing restored models in the National Museum of Israel, you should believe this.

Later, according to the "Notes on the Rebuilding of the Mosque Stele" published in 1663, Li Zicheng, a peasant uprising army at the end of the Ming Dynasty, attacked Kaifeng City for a long time in the 15th year of Chongzhen (1642), but he broke the Yellow River and poured back into Kaifeng City. As a result, hundreds of thousands of residents in Kaifeng City at that time were turned into fish and turtles, and the Jewish settlement of nearly 3,000 people was destroyed. "When Bian died, the temple was abandoned. When the temple was abandoned, the scriptures were also swayed in the flood waves. Only more than 200 families have been sent to the north, and they have been displaced from Heshuo."

A natural disaster in the Yellow River, a man-made disaster, especially the latter, greatly damaged the Jewish settlement in Kaifeng. Although some of the victims later returned to their homes, most of the lost scriptures such as "Tuola" were repaired one after another (the inscription on the "Notes on the Rebuilding of the Mosque" has "compiled the order, and compiled one complete scripture, several square scriptures, and dozens of scattered scriptures." Records such as repair and renovation have been completed and a new look "), but it is no longer the same as in the past. It was from this time that many Kaifeng Jews gradually dispersed in various places. In recent years, scattered Jewish descendants have been found as far away as Yunnan and Taiwan. As for their understanding of Jewish doctrine, Kaifeng Jews had become increasingly confused by this time. This can be clearly seen from the correspondence written by the Jesuits to the Holy See in the early Qing Dynasty after having contact with the Jews in Kaifeng.

By the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were years of turmoil, and Kaifeng's location in the Central Plains must bear the brunt. At this time, the problem was no longer how to continue teaching, but how to survive. In the later period, poor Jews scattered near the synagogue even sold the roof tiles and surface land of the synagogue to make a living.

In 1850, the last Jewish "rabbi" in Kaifeng passed away; then,"Tola" was sold to outsiders one after another; in 1914, all the real estate of Kaifeng Synagogue was sold to the local Anligan Church. With the death of rabbis, the loss of "Tora", and the sale of churches, as a tangible representative of Jewish religion: the scriptures, priesthood and sacred places no longer exist. From this time on, Kaifeng can generally say that there are only Jews, but no Judaism.

At the beginning of this century, when the Jewish community in Shanghai learned about the tragic situation of the Jews in Kaifeng, it organized the "China Jewish Rescue Association." In fact, the Jewish community in Shanghai at this time was basically composed of Jews from the Middle East and had no recent connection with the Jews of Kaifeng. They wrote to the Kaifeng Jews to send suitable people to Shanghai to study the teachings and raise funds to help them live. A letter was also sent to the Jewish Council in London, hoping for help. It was a great pity that at that time, the political situation in Russia was deteriorating, especially after the October Revolution, when a large number of Russian Jews fled to various parts of Europe. The committee was already financially stretched and had no time to take care of others. The appeal of Shanghai's Jewish community failed to receive a positive response.

However, since the beginning of this century, the Shanghai "China Jewish Rescue Association" has been very concerned about the situation of Kaifeng Jews and believed that it was crucial to rescue Kaifeng Jews, and arranged for several Kaifeng Jews who came to Shanghai to find employment in Shanghai. However, by the early 1930s, Shanghai Jewish organizations discovered that religious life in the Jewish community in Kaifeng no longer existed at this time.

Around the time when the regime in China changed hands in 1949, most Jews in Shanghai left the country and moved to Israel or the United States. The skin was no longer there, and Mao would not be attached. Some Kaifeng Jews who had defected to Shanghai had no choice but to return to Kaifeng, their ancestral home.

In fact, as of the early 1950s, there were still hundreds of Jews living in the Jewish settlement near the original Kaifeng Synagogue. What is interesting is that in 1952, a Jew surnamed Ai once represented the Jews of Kaifeng City to Beijing, which had just been established for three years, to attend the "National Congress of Ethnic Minorities". He also shook hands with Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and others, the leaders of the new regime. Perhaps it was only one step away from being recognized as a separate minority, but it was ultimately lost. Under the new regime, all requirements were uniform, and the only bits of national identity that remained of Kaifeng Jews were lost. Of course, there were also people who insisted on their Jewish identity. They still wrote "Jewish" in the "ethnicity" column of the household registration booklet that was in circulation at that time, but that was it.

Fortunately, since the 1950s, the number of Jews in Kaifeng has been too small and dwindling, and they have not been discriminated against on the grounds of Judaism. Some Jews in Kaifeng have also been subjected to political persecution over the past few decades, but most of them have suffered the same experience as the Han people. For example, they are classified as "capitalists", they are designated as "rightists" in the Anti-Rightist Movement, and they are labeled as "traitors" and "spies" during the Cultural Revolution. With the repeated politics, they were also appeased by "rehabilitation","redemption" and repayment of wages. If favored, it is also because of political proximity to the government, and by no means like some other ethnic minorities, who gain symbolic status due to their ethnic background. Many Jews in Kaifeng joined the Communist Party, and some also worked in government departments.

Of course, during the "Cultural Revolution", various religious corruption in the mainland of China was the most absurd. All religious groups "operated" together. Not to mention Christians and Catholics gathered together to discuss documents, even Taoist priests and monks studied editorials in groups. Until the mid-1980s, when I went to Wutai Mountain to worship incense, the monks meditating in the backyard of Xiantong Temple were still complaining that the lamas in the front yard were doing rituals too loudly. What is intriguing is that in Chinese and foreign history, the various religions that have been beaten to a mountain of bones and rivers of blood, have now forgotten their past differences and "come together for a common revolutionary goal." Therefore, Judaism itself, as a religion, survived due to its insignificant scale. However, after this disaster, the Jews in Kaifeng after the "Cultural Revolution" were even more confused about their origins. I remember that more than 20 years ago, when universities began to recruit students again after the turmoil of the "Cultural Revolution", a female student was recruited into the Central College for Nationalities in Beijing because of her Hui ethnic background. By chance, she met a scholar and realized that her family's origins turned out to be Jewish, whom she had never heard of. This also shows that when a minority is surrounded by a "mainstream" nation, if it loses its language, culture and historical traditions, even a tenacious nation like Judea, which is unique in human history, cannot resist the fate of assimilation and integration.

The Jewish family affection, whose blood is thicker than water, has always inspired Jewish communities abroad to try to help the Kaifeng Jews. However,"the situation is stronger than the people", and neither external nor internal factors are the time to make things happen. This simple wish of wishful thinking may not be easy to realize. When I visited Stanford University a few years ago, I was a guest at the home of Professor Ding Aibo, who part-time chaired the China Jewish Institute. He could only feel helpless and sorry that many of his efforts had failed. However, it cannot help but be touched that Jewish organizations can still care so much for brothers and sisters whom they have "never met before" and have lost contact with hundreds of years, perhaps even more than a thousand years ago. With this care, you can feel the survival of a nation that has lost its motherland for thousands of years.

After all, the Jewish settlement in Kaifeng is a relic of history. If no miracle had occurred, even if the surviving descendants of Kaifeng Jews adhered to their cultural and religious traditions, it would have been impossible to avoid the fate of decline. However, starting from the Northern Song Dynasty, the Jewish settlement in Kaifeng was almost completely isolated from the Jewish cultural center, and was located in the Central Plains area where Han culture was strong. It has persisted for thousands of years. In fact, the Jews in Kaifeng had long created a miracle.