Chinese Perceptions of the Jews’ and Judaism: A History of the Youtai

213 Pages·2013·5.106 MB·English

by  Zhou Xun

Chinese Perceptions
of the
'Jews' and Judaism
To the memory of George Feinberg
Chinese Perceptions
of the
'Jews' and Judaism
A History of the Youtai
Zhou Xun
I~ ~~o~1~~n~~:up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First Published in 2001
by CurZOll Press
Published 2013 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint oft he Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
:£; 2001 Zhou Xun
All rights reserved. No pari or this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic. mechanical. or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording. or in
any information storage or retrieval system. without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloglling in Publicatioll Data
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Librar!J of COllwess Clltlllogllil1Y ill Publicatioll Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested
ISBN 13: 978-0-700-71249-6 (hbk)
D
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Illustrations ix
1. Introduction 1
The 'Jew' as Defined in Modern China 3
2. China, Missionaries and 'Jews' 1605-1870 7
The 'Unknown Jews' of China 7
The Map of Ricci and the Chinese 'Discovery' of the
World 10
The Entering of the Protestant Missions 12
Xu Jiyu, Wei Yuan and their Geographies of the World 22
The 'Eastern Jews' 27
3. Encountering and Reinventing the 'Jews'
1870-1915 39
Journey to the West 39
The 'Jews' as a 'Historical Race' 47
The 'Jews' as Inferior 49
,
The 'Stateless Jews 50
The 'Jews' as a Victim of the 'White Race' 52
The 'Jews' in Literature 53
Japan's Impact 55
The 'Jews' as Nationalists 56
The 'Jews' as Imperialists 57
Jewish Merchants in Shanghai 59
4. The 'Jews' in the May Fourth Period 1915-1930s 67
The 'Jew' as 'Old' 68
v
vi CONTENTS
The 'Jew' as Spiritual 71
Yiddish as the 'New' 74
Jewish Theatre, George Sidney and the Theatre 'Revolution' 80
Modern Hebrew Poetry and the New Poetry Movement 84
5. The 'Jews' and the 'Science of Race' 1915-1949 93
,
The 'Jews' as a 'Superior Race 94
The 'Jews' as the 'Diseased' 97
The 'Jews' and Eugenics 100
The 'Jews' as Products of Racial Discrimination 107
6. Chinese Perceptions of Zionism 1915-1949 111
Zionism and the 'Jewish Homeland' 113
Zionism and the 'Chinese Renaissance 116
Zionism as 'Imperialism' 120
Zionists as 'Capitalists' 122
Zionists as 'Victims of Imperialism and Fascism' 12h
China at the UN and its Attitude towards the Partition
of Palestine 128
Recreation, Restoration and Reconstruction
(1937-1945) 132
7. Anti-Jewish Policy in Japanese Occupied China
during the War Period 1937-1945 141
8. Epilogue: Old Myths and New Phenomena
1949-1997 157
Appendices 167
A. 'The History of the Religion of Moses in China' 167
B, 'Ghetto - The Jewish Quarter in Rome 176
Selected Bibliography 185
Character List 195
Index 199
vi
D
Acknowledgements
This book is largely based on a doctoral thesis written under the
supervision of Timothy H. Barrett of the School of Oriental and
African Studies (SOAS). University of London. I am very grateful for
his initial suggestion of my current research topic. and for his
guidance. advice. constant support and encouragement over the
years. Then there is Frank Dikotter. of the same institution. who has
given me enormous help and valuable suggestions throughout my
research. Without his generosity in sharing his time and knowledge.
this work would not have been possible. I am also grateful to Tudor
Parfitt at SOAS. for the support and enthusiasm he has given me to
begin and to carry out this project.
I acknowledge with gratitude the Great Britain - China
Educational Trust and the Sino-British Fellowship Trust for giving
me awards which enabled me to carry out research in China during
the year of 1995. SOAS also made a contribution towards travel
expenses. A one year scholarship from the British Federation for
Women Graduates allowed me to put most of my research together
as a piece of written work. This book was revised with the help of a
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from SOAS.
I wish to express my gratitude to Lars P. Laamann. formerly of the
British Library and now of SOAS: he has given me much help in
obtaining material and has also read the draft of my doctoral thesis.
I would also like to thank Michael Dillion of the University of
Durham. Sander Gilman of the University of Chicago. John Klier of
UCL. University of London and Francesca Tarocco of SOAS. for
giving me valuable comments in shaping up this work. My sincere
appreciation also goes to Irene Eber of Hebrew University. Jerusalem.
David Goodman of University of Illinois. Urbana-Champaign. Jeffery
Lesser of Connecticut College. USA. Pan Guang of Shanghai Social
Academy. China. Murray Rubinstein of City University of New York.
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Avi Shivtiel of University of Cambridge, Jon Stratton of Gurtin
University of Technology, Australia, R, G. Tiedemann of SOAS,
Steven Uran of CETSAH (EHESS - CNRS). Paris, and Xu Xing of
Nanjing University. China. for sharing their knowledge and time.
I must also thank Wu Jianzhong and Xu Junjun. of the Shanghai
Library. and Zhou Xiaoqing. of the Sichuan University Library. for
assisting me to get material. I have also received help from the
University Library. Cambridge. the SOAS Library. the Second
Historical Archive in Nanjing. China and many other places during
my research. I am grateful to Glenn Ratcliffe of SOAS for helping me
with one of the illustrations. I am also grateful to Yasmine
Estaphanos who carefully proofread each page of the manuscript.
Then, I wish to thank Joachim Augstein, Chiara Betta, Robert
Bickers, Barbara Geldermann, Ruth Herd and Frank J. Shulman for
sharing ideas and their materials. I would also like to thank Wang
Shiqun, the Archivist of the Sichuan University Archive and my
father. Zhou Zhaoxi. for photo-copying material for me. Here. I must
also mention Simon Weightman, of SOAS, for his support in this
project.
Finally, I like to dedicate this book to all my mentors and friends,
for their guidance and friendship. Most of all to the memory of
George Feinberg, a very dear friend whom I continue to see in every
page of this book and everywhere I go. Special mentions must also
be made of T H Barrett, a wonderful and inspiring teacher and a true
scholar. Michael Witzemann, my MA dissertation supervisor and
teacher in Biblical Hebrew, a remarkable scholar who has
unfortunately passed away last year and has been greatly missed
by many, And Fanya Pines, an Israeli artist of Chinese brush
painting, who was born in Dalian, China, Whose friendship resulted
in my becoming interested in my current research field in the first
place,
Responsibility for the views expressed in this book, and for errors
and omissions, is mine alone.
viii
D
III ustrations
1. In 1946, Ye Qianyu, a famous Chinese cartoonist, took his first
trip to America. On the boat to America, he met many different
people, including Jews. In 1948, after his return to China, he
published in Beiping's (now Beijing) Xinmin Bao a cartoon series
of his experiences in America. It was entitled Tiantangji (Trip to
Paradise). In which he included his portrait of 'a Jew'.
2. 'Struggle for survival: the new born Israel', by unknown artist.
Shije zhishi, 18:2 (July, 1938), p. 1.
ix