900s: Professor Laufer (劳乌茀)
53 Torah sections, 27 alphabet letters
According to Professor Berthold Laufer (1874–1934), renowned German anthropologist and Sinologist, there is a significant Persian influence on the Kaifeng Jews. Both the Persian Jews and Kaifeng Jews used a Hebrew alphabet with 27 letters, in contrast with the typical 22. In addition, their Pentateuch was divided into 53 sections, instead of 54, with the Masoretic 52nd and 53rd sections combined into one and recited during the week of the Feast of Tabernacles.
Persian word Ustad used to mean rabbi
The Kaifeng Jewish community adopted the Persian word ustad to mean rabbi — for example, the 1489 Inscription spoke of an Ustad Levi (列微五思达), meaning Rabbi Levi.
Persian word Djuhud used to mean Jews
Starting in the Yuan Dynasty, the Jews began to appear in Code of Yuan (元典章) and History of Yuan (元史). In these official Chinese records, the Jews were referred to as variations of 术忽 (Pronunciation in Chinese: Shuhu), phonetic transcription of the New Persian word Djuhud.
Jews entered China around 10th century
Professor Laufer noted that the Kaifeng Jews' Persian influence was virtually all new-Persian; almost none of the Pehlevi or Middle Persian elements had been found. Since the new Persian developed chiefly during the 10th century, it is theorised that the Jewish migration into China could not have taken place beforehand.
Multi-steams of Jewish migration into China
Professor Laufer believed it is more probable that the Jews came to China in many small groups over an extended time and then merged into a single community, with Kaifeng being their middle ground.
Reached China by sea as cotton traders
The stone inscriptions recorded that Judaism came into China directly from a region west of China, and the Jews brought cotton as a tribute to the Imperial Court. In 1930, Professor Laufer wrote, "The gift of cotton goods points directly to India, as the cotton plant was not yet cultivated in China under the Sung…It thus stands to reason that it was the cotton trade in the interest of which the Jews came to China." Thus, he believed the sea route had been the Jews' method of reaching China.
However, cotton was probably only one of many items that the Jews dealt with; the other products they traded could range from sugar to sheep. Shelomo Dov Goitein (1900–1985), a German-Jewish ethnographer, believed that Jewish merchants active "in faraway countries had to be flexible and have the ability to deal with a great variety of products."