Jews of China

Catalog description

Jews have lived in China for over a thousand years. This course looks at Jewish communities in China from the 800s CE to the present, exploring their encounters with their Chinese neighbors, the networks of trade and knowledge their communities maintained, and how these communities handled the question of acculturation. This course will focus on Jewish history in major cities such as Kaifeng, Harbin, Tianjin, and Shanghai, and particular attention will be given to the influx of Central European Jewish refugees who escaped to China from Nazi Europe during World War II. Students will deep-dive into topics such as the treatment of religious and ethnic minorities in China, Asian conceptions of the Jew, the making of race and foreignness under colonialism, the development of Sino-Israeli relations, and the uses and misuses of Jewish memory in China today.