That the daughter of Protestant missionaries could so effectively impart the depth of feeling and concern behind a Jewish family aware of its imminent spiritual demise, yet deeply cognizant of its obligation to carry on the traditions of its forefathers in a foreign land — all the while exhibiting authentic Chinese sensibilities — is a testimony to the greatness of the writer herself.
Origins of the Chinese Jews
The actual history of the Jews in China dates back at least to the 8th century C.E., when Jewish merchants and traders from Persia and India travelled overland along the Silk Road to trade in the Middle Kingdom during the Tang dynasty (618–906 C.E.). Testimony of this early history exists in bits of archaeological evidence which came to light at the turn of this century. A Judeo-Persian business letter, dating to 718 C.E., was discovered in 1901 by the archeologist and Orientalist Sir Marc Aurel Stein, along the Northern caravan route of the Silk Road. Nine years after this discovery, a Selichah, or Hebrew penitential prayer sheet, was unearthed in the Dunhuang Caves of Gansu Province, along what was the Southern Caravan route of the Silk Road. Dating to 708 C.E., it represents the earliest known Hebrew manuscript still extant. What makes these two pieces remarkable is the fact that they were made on paper, which at the time was only made in China, proving a Jewish existence in Chinese territory at least as early as the 8th century.
Some scholars theorize that the Jews came to China by sea, noting the various coastal Jewish communities which sprung up in Canton, Hangzhou, Yangzhou and other cities. Of these, Kaifeng was the grandest, with its opulent synagogue dating to 1163 in what was then the capital of China.
Early information about the Jews in China is scanty. Between the 9th and the 14th centuries, well-known Arab travellers and historians such as Abu-Zaid and Ibn-Battutah reported the presence of Jews in China. Although these constitute the first available observations noted by Westerners, they said little about the daily life of the Jews themselves. Pointing to Moslem countries for the origins of the Chinese Jews — in particular Persia, they confirm that they lived in the same major cities as did the Moslems, having arrived approximately the same time and in the same manner. Indeed, the Chinese often confused the Jews for Moslems, calling the former “blue capped Moslems”, since the real Moslems always wore white skull caps, while the Jews wore blue. (In Peony, David is depicted at one point, as donning a blue silk cap. This was not a chance color chosen by Pearl S. Buck.)
Early European travellers in China during the Yuan dynasty (1280–1367) also reported sighting Jews. Remarkably, Marco Polo made it a point to mention in his memoirs that the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan (for the Yuan was a “foreign” dynasty), celebrated the festivals of the Moslems, Christians and Jews. During the same period European missionaries such as Andrew of Perugia reported Jewish resistance at attempts to convert them, or to be otherwise swayed from their convictions. It is clear that through the 14th century, at least, the Jews in China had contact with other foreigners, and that their religious life and identity as Jews remained intact, undisturbed and unchallenged by the exceptionally tolerant Chinese people and government.
For their part, the native Chinese left negligible information about the foreigners in their midst. Only six references to Jews have ever been found in official government documents, all dating to the Yuan dynasty. Extensive contact with foreign peoples and cultures was one of the unique features of the Yuan dynasty, during which time commerce flourished. It is therefore not surprising that the only bits of information on the Jews found in official Chinese government sources should appear during this dynasty. Mentioning Jews in the same breath as the Moslems, the Statutes of the Yuan Dynasty decreed a prohibition on ritual slaughter on January 27, 1280. Forty years later the same Statutes mention Jews, Moslems and Nestorians with regard to the payment of taxes. The Official History of the Yuan Dynasty contains the remaining instances in which Jews are mentioned, for the years 1329, 1340 and 1354. Jews were prohibited from tax exemption and the ancient practice of having a widow marry her deceased husband’s brother — a practice common to both Moslems and Jews.
Local gazetteers dating to the 17th century indicate that a great number of Chinese Jews attained high rank in the civil service system. While the gazetteers attest to the great success the Jews had in Chinese society by virtue of their disproportionate numbers having passed this difficult exam, they also serve as the first indication in Chinese sources of the tremendous degree of assimilation which must have taken place in advance of the Jews’ ability to master the Confucian Classics by then, for the Classics were essential for any hope of passing the exams and attaining high rank in society.
History Etched in Stone
The bulk of our knowledge of early Jewish life in Kaifeng comes not from the Arabs and not from the Europeans or the native Chinese, but rather from the Jews themselves, in the form of inscriptions found on steles (stone monuments) which they erected in the synagogue’s courtyard as early as 1489.
The steles offer a fascinating glimpse into the way the Jews portrayed their history and customs, both to themselves and to their Chinese neighbors. Dated 1489, 1512, 1663 and 1669, two of these stone monuments are all that is left of this exotic community today in Kaifeng.
The 1489 stele was erected in commemoration of the rebuilding of the synagogue, which had been destroyed in a flood during 1461. It speaks of the Emperor granting express permission to the Jews to build their first synagogue on that very spot in the year 1163. Chronicling the history of the Jewish religion, it mentions at the outset that the patriarch Abraham was the nineteenth generation descendant of “Pangu-Adam.” That the stele was erected at all shows the point at which the Jews can be said to have truly assimilated into their environment, since it was a Chinese, rather than a Jewish, custom to do so in houses of worship. And that the first man in Biblical creation could be combined in one breath with the first person in the Chinese story of creation is further testimony to the degree of assimilation the Jews felt with their Chinese neighbors by the 15th century.
From the 1489 stele we learn that the Jews made no images, fasted four times per month, and observed Jewish laws and rituals — in a language filled with Biblical wisdom, yet interspersed with sayings from the Analects of Confucius! Moses and Ezra are mentioned early on in the stele as well, and seem to take on the qualities of Confucian gentlemen rather than those of wandering Israelites. The Jewish religion, so it goes, came from India. Originally, seventy or more clans came to Kaifeng, where the Emperor of the Song dynasty said to them: “You have come to Our China; reverence and preserve the customs of your ancestors, and hand them down at Bianliang (Kaifeng).”
It is generally believed that 17, rather than 70, was the number of clans meant to have come, since the pronunciation for “70” and “17” in Chinese is so similar that mistakes could have been easily made. Of those clans, only seven particular surnames have remained and are to this day indicative of Jewish origin: Ai, Gao (Kao), Jin (Chin), Li, Shi, Zhang (Chang) and Zhao (Chao).
It is also clear that the Jewish community of Ningbo donated a Torah scroll to the Kaifeng community after the devastating flood of 1461. The contributions of individual members to the reconstruction of the synagogue, and the high civil service ranks attained by others, was duly noted, as was the fact that Judaism was in no way in conflict with the other great religions prevalent in China — Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism. In fact, it went out of its way to explain that the Jews were not only loyal to their G-d, who must have seemed so foreign to the Chinese, but also quite loyal to the Emperor. In contrast to this, however, is the fact that above the Imperial Tablet, which was placed in all authorized temples symbolizing the protection and authority of the State (and proclaiming “Long live the great Emperor!”), the Jews placed a Hebrew inscription in beautiful gold letters, which only they could read. It was the Shema, the Hebrew article of faith, proving that although they were respectful of the government, G-d alone was higher than the Emperor.