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Among the Jewish Descendants of Kaifeng
Judaism, Wntr, 2000 by Irwin M. Berg
I asked if there were any families that never ate pork. To my surprise, they didn't know whether any such families exist. There is no organization of Jewish descendants; there is no day of the year when they gather; there is no vehicle through which they communicate with one another. Each clan is an island unto itself and follows its own traditions.
Despite their ignorance of the Jewish religion, despite universal intermarriage, and despite a loss of a sense of a Jewish community, the Kaifeng descendants identify as Jews. To the Chinese, one's status is derived from the paternal line. The descendants know from family traditions and their family names that there is an unbroken line of Jews on the paternal side for 1,000 years. It matters little to them that they no longer observe the Jewish religion or have knowledge of Jewish customs. They are Jews because of their fathers and because they never became Moslem or Buddhist or Christian.
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At one time the Kaifeng Jews were registered with the authorities as "Youtai Houdai" or "Jewish Descendants." The government became concerned that the descendants might seek privileges that are accorded to recognized minorities and changed their description on their Certificates of Registry from "Youtai Houdai" to "Han." This drew protests from the descendants, but, as of this date, they have not succeeded in getting themselves recognized as Jews.
About twenty years ago, the curator of the Kaifeng Municipal Museum, Wang Yisha, conducted a survey of the Jewish descendants of Kaifeng and found about 140 families with six of the traditional Jewish surnames. Those living in Kaifeng totaled 166 people. Estimates of the number of Jews in Kaifeng at their peak vary from 2,500 to 5,000. In 1849 there were reported to be only 1,000 remaining. [11]
Since the 1980s, many individual Jews and Jewish groups have visited Kaifeng to meet with the Jewish descendants. Some have brought or sent them Jewish religious articles and books in Chinese concerning Judaic studies. Others have performed Friday evening and Sabbath morning services for the Kaifeng Jewish descendants. My impression is that the descendants are curious rather than committed. I did not see a religious spark waiting to be re-kindled.
It would be dangerous for the descendants to exhibit a commitment to the Jewish religion if they wished to do so. The Chinese government does not recognize the existence of Jews as a protected religious minority, although it welcomes the tourism that their presence generates. The government would be especially vigilant to oppose a religious movement with foreign support. There is also a difference in the eyes of the government between "religious belief" and "knowledge." Official concern might be aroused by foreign materials with a "religious" Jewish content rather than foreign materials with "academic" Jewish content.
An American organization, the Sino-Judaic Institute, marshaled an exhibit which records the history of the Kaifeng Jews. The exhibit was collected in Palo Alto, California, for shipment to Kaifeng. For many months the exhibit got no further than the Jewish Community Club in Beijing while the government made up its mind whether it was acceptable. After much hesitation and delay, the exhibit is now located in Kaifeng's new Riverside Scene Park in Kaifeng's northwest corner. The exhibit is historical in theme and presentation without any religious content.
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