Jews in China and Chinese Jews

                The Jewish and Chinese peoples are the oldest continuous civilizations. Given the long records of these two civilizations the infrequency of their concurrence and the slightness of the record of their contacts makes the discussion of their relations somewhat exotic. These discussions have take place in many languages. One of the items listed below catalogs many of the older contributions, that is The Sino-Judaic Bibliographies of Rudolf Loewenthal. These three separate works include a variety of extremely difficult to acquire volumes. While the list of items cataloged below includes only one item that appears in those bibliographies the items that we offer do present a variety of types of treatments and sources.

Bloch, Samson, ha-Levi. Sh'vile 'olam. Sefer Kolel. Tekunot kol artsot tevel le-mahlekotehen ... Zolkiew, Bey Meyerhoffer, 1822. Duodecimo, black cloth covered boards, xxii, 252 pp., mild water-staining. Hardbound. Good. Text is in Hebrew. This is the volume that deals with Asia. With eulogies/ dedications by J. Landau, J. Eichenbaum, and Aharon Lerner. Lerner's contribution is in poetic form.
                                                          "In 1812 Bloch was called to Vienna to fill the place of corrector in the Hebrew printing-establishment of Anton Schmid, made vacant by the death of the grammarian Ben Ze'eb. There he translated into Hebrew Manasseh b. Israel's "Vindiciæ Judæorum" from the German translation of it by Dr. Marcus Herz, and published it with an introduction and a biographical sketch of the author (Vienna, 1813). He was compelled by family affairs to return to Kulikow, and, after several years of continual struggle with poverty, he listened to the advice of his friends Krochmal and Rapoport, and took up the writing of Hebrew books as a profession. In 1822 appeared the first volume of his important work, "Shebile 'Olam" (Paths of the World), a description of the geography and the nations of Asia (Zolkiev). It still has a literary if not a scientific value on account of its incomparable style and of the attacks on the folly and superstition of the Eastern nations contained therein, which were really intended for fools and deluded people nearer home. The second volume (Africa) is even better than the first, and is interspersed with biographies of Alfasi, Maimonides, and other famous Jews who were born or lived in Africa (Zolkiev, 1827)." Jewish Encyclopedia. (83580)     $180.00

Dehergne, Joseph and Leslie, Donald Daniel. Juifs de Chine: A Travers la Correspondance Inedite des Jesuites du Dix-Huitieme Siecle. Bibliotheca Instituti Historici S.I., Volumen XLI. Rome and Paris, Institutum Historicum S.I. and Les Belles Lettres, 1980. First Edition. Octavo, blue cloth with gold lettering, xiv, 252 pp., tables, bibliography, Hebrew glossary, glossa of Chinese terms and names, indexes, xi b/w plates. Hardbound. Very Good. In French. Preface by Jacques Gernet. Michael Pollak's copy.
                                                            Dehergne was ordained as priest in Paris in 1934 and departed for China in 1936. His primary study was of the history of Christians and of Jesuit Missions and Missionaries in China. He was able to remain in China until 1951 when he was expelled by the Chinese communists. He was the co-founder of the Colloque Internationale de Sinologie, at Chantilly.  (67108)      $45.00

Dehergne, Joseph and Leslie, Donald Daniel. Juifs de Chine: A Travers la Correspondance Inedite des Jesuites du Dix-Huitieme Siecle. Bibliotheca Instituti Historici S.I., Volumen XLI. Rome and Paris, Institutum Historicum S.I. and Les Belles Lettres, 1984. Second Edition. Octavo, paper covers with minor bumping to the bottom open corner, xiv, 252 pp., tables, bibliography, Hebrew glossary, glossary of Chinese terms and names, indexes, xi b/w plates.  Softbound. Very Good-. In French. Preface by Jacques Gernet. Michael Pollak's copy. (67109)      $40.00

   Drage, Charles. The Life and Times of General Two-Gun Cohen. New York, Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1954. Octavo in edgeworn dust jacket with a few short tears and with wear at the base of the spine, frontispiece photo, viii, 312 pp., b/w photos, with a few small ink stamps. Hardbound. Good.  

                                                       Moishe "Morris" Cohen, was born to a poor family in Radzanów, Poland. While he was still young the family emigrated to the London's East End. He was educated, but was no Yeshiva Bokher. He got in enough trouble on the streets that he was shipped off to Western Canada with the support of Baron Rothschild's Jewish agricultural colonization effort. He lived in Saskatchewan and Alberta. His sense of decency impaired his racism. When he saw a Chinese restaurateur being robbed he stepped in and thrashed the robber. This ingratiated him the Chinese workers in Western Canada. He was invited into the Chinese Nationalist movement in exile in Canada and trained them to drill and in basic gunnery. He fought in the first World War leading Chinese immigrant troops. Back in Canada after World War One and aimless he took the opportunity to travel to China and began working as an aide-de-camp for Sun Yat-sen himself. It was in that capacity that he finally came by his nickname. He worked with Sun until his death in 1925 and remained in China organizing railway development and arming various factions. He rescued Sun's widow, Soong Ching-ling, just ahead of the fall of Hong Kong to the Japanese. He was captured and treated very roughly. He was released in 1943 in a prisoner exchange. This was the end of the effective era of Cohen's live. He returned to Canada and settled in Montreal. Despite that, he remained a rover. Because of his association with Sun Yat-sen he was a rare figure, able to travel and be welcomed in the PRC and in Taiwan. It may be that his personal involvement caused the Chinese (Nationalist) government changed their opposition to partition of Palestine to an abstention. 

                                                      Cohen's legend is full of fabrications of his own and of other's but the bare bones truth of his life is one of the great adventure stories of a rough and tumble Jewish life. This volume will stand proudly on the shelf with Abe "Newsboy" Hollandersky's memoir. Wikipedia has more or if you are really interested you could always buy the damn book.   (54140)     $18.00

Eber, Irene. Sinim ve-Yehudim: Mifgashim beyn Tarbuyot/ Chinese and Jews: Encounters between Cultures. Jesusalem, Bialik Institute, 2002. Octavo in dust jacket, 205 pp., b/w illustrations, bibliography, indicis. Very Good. Translated into Hebrew by Yossi Malvo.
                                                          Eber is the leading Israeli Sinologist.  (18592)      $20.00
                              

Falbaum, Berl, compiled and edited by. Shanghai Remembered: Stories of Jews Who Escaped to Shanghai from Nazi Europe. Royal Oak, Michigan, Momentum Books L.L.C., 2005. ISBN: 1-879094-73-8. Octavo in dust jacket, x, 229 pp., b/w photos. Hardbound. Very Good.  

                                                             A collection of twenty-three accounts of life from Holocaust survivors who transited through Shanghai. (74519)      $18.00

Gerstley, James M. China Diary (China Visit, March 9th - 29th, 1976). Woodside, California, The Author, April, 9, 1976. Quarto, paper covers in a plastic fronted report binder, 44 single-sided pp. Softbound. Very Good. An early travel account from China as it began to re-open to the west at the end of the Mao era. Unpublished.
                                                                   English-born Gerstley married into the Jewish establishment of San Francisco. His fortune was made in the Borax industry. His Twenty Mule Team Borax is well known from their advertisements on the program Death Valley Days. After his retirement he devoted himself to philanthropic causes. One of the primary causes for him was the Asian Art collection at the De Young Museum. He made a donation that allowed the Museum to retain control of the Avery Brundage collection and he continued to support the development of that collection. It is probably in this role that the visit to China documented her was taken. (81172)      $40.00

Goldstein, Jonathan, edited and with an Introduction by. The Jews of China. Volume One: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. Armonk, New York, M.E. Sharpe, 1999. ISBN: 0-7656-0104-4. Octavo, glossy paper covers, xxiv, 308 pp. Softbound. Very Good. Concluding Essay by Benjamin I. Schwartz. Articles are "The Synagogue at Kaifeng: Sino-Judaic Architecture of the Diaspora," Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt, "Kaifeng Jews: The Sinification of Identity," Irene Eber, "The Confucianization of the Kaifeng Jews: Interpretations of the Kaifeng Stelae Inscriptions," Andrew H. Plaks, "The Revelation of a Jeish Presence in Seventeenth-Century China: Its Impact on Western Messinic Thought," Michael Pollak, "Memories of Kaifeng's Jewish Descendants today: Historical Significance in Light of Observations by Westerners Since 1605," Wendy R. Abraham, "The Kaifeng Jews and India's Bene Israel: Different Paths," Shirley Barry Isenberg, "Cochin Jews and Kaifeng Jews: reflections on Caste, Surname, 'Community,' and Conversion," Barbara C. Johnson,"The Judaism of Kaifeng and Cochin: Parallels and Divergences,"Nathan Katz, "Baghdadi Jews in India and China in  the Nineteenth Century: A Comparison of Economic Roles," Joan G. Roland, "The Shanghai-Nagasaki Judaic Connection, 1859-1924," Lane Earns, "Environmental Interactions of the Jews of Hong Kong," Dennis A. Leventhal, "The Construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway and the Origins of the Harbin Jewish Community, 1898-1931," Zvia Shickman-Bowman, "Harbin's Jewish Community, 1898-1958: Politics, Prosperity, and Adversity," Boris Bresler, "Silas Aaron Hardoon and Cross-Cultural Adaptation in Shanghai," Xu Buzeng, "Jewish Musicians in Shanghai: Bridging Two Cultures," Harriet P. Rosenson, "The Shanghai Zionist Association and the International Politics of East Asia Until 1936," Maruyama Naoki, "Zionism and Zionist-Revisionism in Shanghai, 1937-1949," Pan Guang, "Who Can See a Miracle? The Language of Jewish Memory in Shanghai," Vera Schwarcz. (63581)      $40.00

Guang, Pan, editor in chief. The Jews in Shanghai. Shanghai, Shanghai Pictorial Publishing House, 2005. New Updated Edition. ISBN: 7806855025. Quarto, glossy paper covers with flaps, xiv, 150 pp., b/w photos, bibliography. Softbound. Very Good. Text is in English and Chinese.
                                                                    A Chinese view of the Jewish presence in Shanghai. (83642)      $29.95

Heppner, Ernest G. Shanghai Refuge: A Memoir of the World War II Jewish Ghetto. Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1993. First Edition. ISBN: 0-8032-2368-4. Octavo in dust jacket, xx, 191 pp., map, b/w photos, notes, bibliography, index. Hardbound. Very Good. 
                                                              Survival in wartime Shanghai for the newly arriving Jewish refugees was a challenging but rich experience. This is a particularly well written memoir of that time. (20574)      $25.00

Heppner, Ernest G. Shanghai Refuge: A Memoir of the World War II Jewish Ghetto. Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1993. ISBN: 0-8032-7281-2. Octavo, paper covers, xx, 191 pp., map, b/w photos, notes, bibliography, index. Softbound. Very Good.  (26102)      $5.95

Kublin, Hyman, compiled with Preface and Introductions by. Jews in Old China: Some Western Jews. New York, Paragon Book Reprint Corp., 1971. Octavo, blue cloth with gold lettering, xxii, 211 pp., b/w drawings, 212-295 pp., fold-out map, b/w photos, chronology, minor wear. Red Chinese chop mark on the free front endpaper (possibly Michael Pollak's) Hardbound. Very Good-. Articles are "The Jews in China: Their Synagogue, Their Scriptures, Their History," James Finn, Chinese Jews; a Lecture," Marcus N. Adler, "The History of the Jews in China," S.M. Perlmann, "Chinese Jews," Edward I. Ezra and Arthur Sopher. (67107)      $95.00

Kublin, Hyman, compiled with Preface and Introductions by. Studies of the Chinese Jews: Selections from Journals East and West. New York, Paragon Book Reprint Corp., 1971. Octavo, blue cloth with gold lettering, x, 218 pp., minor wear. Red Chinese chop mark on the free front endpaper (possibly Michael Pollak's) Hardbound. Very Good-. Articles are "The K'aifeng Jews: a Disappearing Community," Lawrence Kramer, "An Early Judaeo-Persian Document from Khotan in the Stein Collection, with Other Early Persian Documents," David S. Margoliouth, "The Nomenclature of Jews in China," Rudolph Loewenthal, "Notes on the Chinese Jews of Kaifeng," Chaoying Fang, "Le Juif Ngai, Informateur du P. Mathieu Ricci," Paul Pelliot, "The K'aifeng Jew Chao Ying-ch'eng and His Family," Donald Leslie, "Jews in China," Adolph Neubauer, "A Chinese-Hebrew Manuscript: a New Source for the History of the Chinese Jews," Berthold Laufer, "The Simson-Hirsch Letter to the Chinese Jews, 1795," Samuel Sokobin, "The Kaifeng Jewish Community: A Summary," Donald Leslie. Appendices are I. Some major reviews of White's 'The Chinese Jews.' II. Father Ricci's Meeting with a Chinese Jew. III. Chang Hsiang-wen's Visit to Kaifeng in 1910. (67106)      $95.00

Moravia, Alberto. Masa Ba-Sin Ha-Adomah/ La Revoluzione Cultarale in Cina. Tel Aviv, Hotsaat Am Oved, 1971. Duodecimo, paper covers, 159 pp. Softbound. Very Good. Translated into Hebrew by Ahuvia Malkhin from the original Italian
                                                    The Hebrew publishing industry has had to turn to foreign authors to sate local interest in international affairs. This and the Harrison Salisbury title below are characteristic of such imports. (25205)      $15.00

Pollak, Michael, edited by. The Sino-Judaic Bibliographies of Rudolf Loewenthal. Cincinnati & Menlo Park, Hebrew Union College Press in association with The Sino-Judaic Institute, 1988. ISBN: 0-87820-910-7. Octavo, mildly soiled paper covers, xiv, 208 pp., index. Softbound. Very Good. Bibliographica Judaica 12.
                                                   An essential bibliography for the study of Jewish history in China in the era before the Twentieth Century. A bibliography of materials that are all difficult to come by. (77092)     $18.00

Salisbury, Harrison. Ba-Ma'aglot Sin: Nokhe'ah Sin Ha-Adama. Israel, Tsavah Hagana Le-Yisrael, Hotsaat Ma'arakhot, 1968. Octavo in dust jacket, 202 pp., index. Hardbound. Very Good. Translated into Hebrew by Arnon Ben-Nahum (24901)     $15.00

Shapiro, Sidney, translated, compiled and edited by. Jews in Old China: Studies by Chinese Scholars. New York, Hippocrene Books, 1984. ISBN: 0-88254-996-9. Octavo in edgeworn dust jacket with sunning to the spine, xx, 204 pp., b/w illustrations, Chronological Table of Chinese Dynasties, bibliography, index. Review copy slip pasted to the free front endpaper. Hardbound. Very Good -. Articles are "A Survey of the Various Religious Sects During the Yuan Dynasty," Hong Jun, "Contacts Between Ancient China and the Jews," Zhang Xinglang, "A Study of Wotuo," Weng Tu-Chien, "A Study of the Israelite Religion in Kaifeng, 1920, revised 1980," Chen Yuan, "Jews in Ancient China - A Historical Survey, 1953, revised 1983," Glimpses of the Urban Economy of Bianjing, Capital of the Northern Song Dynasty," Jaiang Qingxiang and Xiao Guoliang, "Concerning Chinese Jews," Gao Wangzhi, "An San and An Cheng," Li Jixian, "Buddhist Monk or Jewish Rabbi?" Chen Changqi, "Jewish Traces in Yangzhou," Zhu Jiang, "Some Observations on the Jews of Kaifeng," Xu Zongshe, "An Ethnic historian Looks at China's Jews," Wu Zelin, "The Descendants of the Kaifeng Jews," Wang Yisha.
                                                            Shapiro was a New York Jew who became a Chinese citizen. He was taught Chinese by the US military who planned to deploy him in China to fight against the Japanese, but the war went a different way. He didn't arrive until 1947 and in a development that the Army had not anticipated he essentially went native and joined the Communist side. He stayed in the PRC for most of the rest of his life and held a post within the state cultural apparatus. He was a literary translator for the most part, but did but together this collection of articles from scholars active during his time in China who he probably knew personally. It is another strong companion to Kubler's anthologies.    (67113)      $9.95

Schwarcz, Vera. Bridge Across Broken Time: Chinese and Jewish Cultural Memory. New Haven, CT, Yale University Press, 1998. ISBN: 0-300-06614-7. Octavo in dust jacket, xiv, 232 pp., a few b/w illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. Hardbound. Very Good.
                                                            An excellent comparison of the memory and lingering suffering brought about by the Holocaust and the Chinese Cultural Revolution.  (19378)      $10.00

Sokobin, Sam. Three short articles on Jews in China and Amsterdam issued by the author as keepsakes: "Knee Breeches and Tricorns," "A China-London Jewish Literary Mystery," "Strangers in a Strange Land." [Oakland, Califonia?], The author, 1980s?. Small quartos with various different folds. Softbound. Very Good.  (74911). $10.00

White, William Charles. Chinese Jews: A Compilation of Matters Relating to the Jews of Kai-feng Fu. Toronto, Canada, University of Toronto Press, 1966. Second Edition. Royal octavo in dust jacket with a one short tear, xii, 228 pp., maps, b/w illustrations, documentary indexes and lists of names, index, addenda et corrigenda. Hardbound. Very Good. 
                                                                Long the standard single work on Jews in Old China.
(11170)      $49.95