Past Exhibits

The Jews of Kaifeng

April - May 2000

Three Generations of the Zhao Family, Kaifeng, 1919
Courtesy: Charles White, The Chinese Jews

Curated by the Sino Judaic Institute in Menlo Park, California, this unusual exhibit documents the community of Chinese Jews that dates back to around the 10th century C.E. During the rule of the Song Dynasty, a band of wandering Jews - probably merchants - is thought to have passed through the gates of the city. They were granted imperial audience and their offering of tribute (cotton goods) was accepted. The emperor welcomed them saying, "You have come to our China. Respect and preserve the customs of your ancestors, and hand them down here in Pien-liang [Kaifeng]."

These words were inscribed in 1489 on a stone tablet which was placed, by the decendants of these first Jewish settlers in China, in the courtyard of the synagogue (constructed in 1163).

The exhibit follows the relatively recent discovery of this isolated community and the research into its growth, sustanance, and ultimate destruction at the hand of the Cultural Revolution.