Benjamin of Tudela was a well-known medieval Jewish traveller who visited Africa, Europe, and Asia during the 12th century. His writings of Asia pre-date those of Marco Polo by a century. He travelled to Central Asia with the intent of understanding the circumstances of the distant Jewish diasporas.

Jews lived in places where access to China was relatively easy, including India and central Asia. This brought up the possibility that Jews could have taken advantage of this easy access to China; they likely did.

At the time of his writing, there was already an established kehillah and synagogue in Kaifeng, although this was relatively unknown to the international community. Benjamin’s narrative suggested that there might be a Jewish presence in China’s coastal cities that served as ports.

His reports were widely read because the West was highly interested in the East at the time, for it was novel, exotic, and the source of much-desired luxury goods.