Jewish Family in China

S.M. Perlmann

ha-Sinim: darkhe ḥaye ha-Sinim u-minhagehem ...; u ve-sofo maʻamar gadol ... ha-Yehudim be-Sinim (The Chinese: Chinese life, manners and customs… and at the end the big article … the Jews in China)

London: bi-Defus Maʻarekhet ha-Yehudi, 1911

It is believed that the first Jews, likely merchants traveling via the Silk Road, arrived in China during the Tang Dynasty (618–907). The first Jewish settlement in China, primarily comprising Jews from Persia, was  established in the thriving commercial metropolis of Kaifeng in the eastern central part of the region, during the Song Dynasty (960–1279). The once-flourishing small Jewish community in Kaifeng existed in almost complete isolation until the late 16th century, when an Italian Jesuit priest “discovered” it in 1605. Over time, the Jews in the region gradually assimilated into the local population, although they continued to identify themselves as Jewish through their religious beliefs and some customs. Only a few relics of their Jewish past remained. The sole surviving synagogue in Kaifeng was disassembled around 1850. Historians’ interest in the Jewish community in China overall surged in the mid-19th century through the early 20th century, for reasons of research or potential conversion into Christianity. 

The early photographic documentation of the Jews in China is scarce. This photograph of a Jewish family with two children, reproduced from S.M. Perlmann’s book, published in London in 1911, shows that the clothing style and appearance of the Jews was identical to that of the non-Jewish population. Interestingly, no differentiation in attire for minorities was ever imposed by the local Chinese rulers over the centuries. Jewish men shaved their foreheads and wore queues, the single long braid, in the manner of their Chinese counterparts. The sole distinction in the outfit was the color of the skullcap: Jews wore blue kippahs to differentiate themselves from Muslims, who typically wore white skullcaps. 

Little is known about the author of the book, S.M. Perlmann. A Shanghai-based merchant and scholar, he met with a few Jewish families visiting from Kaifeng in 1902. In his book, he wrote fascinating observations from that meeting and later encounters.