In China, the Jews have always found a safe place from the pervasive anti-Semitism found elsewhere in the world. The major faiths of China – Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism – are all philosophical schools of thought and practices which do not have conflicts of interests with Judaism, as did Christianity and Islam in the west. Furthermore, the Jews were able to live in harmony with the Chinese because of shared values, such as emphasis placed on education and respect for the elderly (filial piety and ‘honour thy father and thy mother’.)

Today, they share even more. The Chinese and the Jews both experienced unfathomable suffering during World War II - six million Jews died in the hands of the Nazis, whilst 35 million Chinese perished in the hands of the Japanese.

Modern China is often defined to have begun at the outset of the First Opium War when China was forced to open its door to international trades. Therefore, Jews who immigrated to China after the war can be thought of as Modern Jews in China.

Opium was first introduced to China in the 17th century, in the form of madak, a blend of opium with tobacco smoked with bamboo pipes. Countless smoking dens popped up along the Southern coastal cities and were viewed as corrupting the Chinese both morally and physically. In 1729, Qing Emperor Yongzheng (雍正帝爱新觉罗胤祯) banned the smoking of madak. British merchants complied.

During this period, China’s interest in Western goods was very limited whilst European demand for Chinese silk and tea was insatiable. They loved the texture and beauty of silk and they found drinking tea prevented them from getting sick — instead of drinking water straight out of lakes and rivers, tea called for boiling the water first which assisted in killing bacteria and germs; however, this was not common knowledge at the time and the European contributed the health effect of drinking disinfected water to tea. The large trade deficit drained Europe of its silvers, as this was the only form of currency acceptable to the Chinese.

By 1780, the added pressure from the British East India Company’s rapidly deteriorating financial health made Britain re-evaluate and subsequently resume opium trading, despite any Chinese legislation. The British grew opium in its tropical countries, namely India, and sold it to the Chinese . By 1800, the British East India Company dominated this supremely lucrative opium market in China.

The first wave of Jewish immigrants to modern China was the Sephardic Jews from Iraq and India. Their story is closely related to that of the Sassoon family. David Sassoon, treasurer of Baghdad between 1817 and 1829, moved from Baghdad to Bombay in 1832. He later became the leader of the Baghdadi Jewish community in Bombay. As British citizens, the family enjoyed exemption from Chinese laws and soon became dominant players in the trading of cotton and opium.

After the Treaty of Nanking, David Sassoon sent his sons to the newly opened treaty ports – Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai – which, as new colonial outposts, was subject to lower tax rates, less competition, and less prejudice. David Sassoon’s elder son, Abdullah Sassoon, remained in Bombay to supervise the family’s existing business. The second son, Elias Sassoon, moved to Shanghai in 1850 in hopes to making it big in the far east.

The family made a huge fortune by exporting opium produced in India to China in exchange for tea, silk and other commodities, which were then shipped to England. By the 1870s, the Sassoon family was the leading importer of opium into China. With extreme foresight, they also bought land at unbelievably low prices; when the price rose in the following decades, the Sassoon family reaped large financial gains.

Sir Victor Sassoon, grandson Elias David Sassoon, transferred much of the family’s wealth from India to Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s. At one time, the family owned over 1,800 properties in Shanghai, including some of the most significant landmarks — the Cathay Hotel and the Cathay Theatre. 

In 1929, Sir Victor Sassoon opened the Cathay Hotel — now called the Fairmont Peace Hotel (上海和平饭店), setting an absolute new height and luxury standard for all of Asia. Situated at the intersection of the Bund and Nanjing Road — Shanghai’s busiest shopping street, this was the Sassoon’s grandest and most iconic masterpiece. It was also Shanghai’s first American-style, art deco skyscraper. Just below its copper-green, pyramid-shaped roof, on the 11th floor, was Sir Victor’s penthouse.

During the occupation of Shanghai in the late 1930s, the Cathy Hotel was taken over and occupied by the Japanese. In 1956, the hotel reopened under the name of Peace Hotel. It was one of the only two hotels in China at the time that was allowed to accommodate foreign envoys. During the Cultural Revolution, the Gang of Four used the hotel as its command centre for the Shanghai Commune. Over its turbulent history, distinguished visitors from Charlie Chaplin, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Chiang Kai-Shek, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton have all stayed here.

In 1949, the hotel’s legendary Jazz Bar was closed down when China classified Jazz as “yellow music,” in the same category as pornography, and was banned completely. At the end of the Culture Revolution, in the late 1970s, no one in China knew how to play Jazz anymore. The Jazz Bar had to call back its original players, all in their 80s and 90s by then, to continue the tradition. Today, the Jazz Bar is vibrant and busy, playing to the tune of a bygone era. The band members, with an average age of around 80, proudly call themselves the Old Jazz Band.

The hotel’s main entrance, facing the Huangpu River (黄浦江), is permanently closed because Feng Shui master claimed the front door should not open onto running water to prevent wealthy from flowing out. Victor’s Cafe, named after Sir Victor Sassoon, serves a variety of western pastries while occupying the prime people-watching spot on the Nanjing Road. The cafe’s signature dish is Sir Victor’s favourite chicken curry.

Without a doubt, this is the most famous hotel in China.

Sir Victor Sassoon was also a strong defender of Western rights in China and offered tremendous support to the Jews in the Shanghai Ghetto.

The Sassoons were strict Orthodox Jews who worked hard to maintain their Baghdadi Jewish identity. In the early days when Shanghai was still just a tiny fishing village along the Huangpu River (黄浦江)  and lacked the infrastructure to facilitate the maintenance of a Jewish lifestyle, the Sassoons hired other Jews from Baghdad and Bombay, provided them with food and accommodation, ensured everyone observed Sabbath and Jewish holidays, and lived according to the Jewish laws. Amongst those who came from Bombay to work for the Sassoons were the Kadoories and the Hardoons who later branched off and started their own extremely successful business empires. 

The second wave of Jewish immigrants to modern China was the Ashkenazi Jews, mostly from Russia. They came to China under considerably worse condition than the first wave of immigrants.

From 1881-1920, the never-ending pogroms and the increased official repression against the Jewish population lead to more than two million Russian Jews fleeing the country. Whilst a vast majority fled to the United States and England, some Jews made their way eastwards eventually ending up in the city of Harbin.

Harbin is now the capital city of Heilongjiang Province (黑龙江省), the most north eastern province of Manchuria. It was a small fishing village prior to 1895 and served as the base of Russian military operation in Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War (1904 - 05). For a certain period, Harbin had the largest Russian population outside of the Soviet Union; in fact, at the time of the revolution in 1917, 40,000 of the 100,000 people in Harbin were ethnically Russian. Today, it is often called the “Moscow of the East” by the Chinese although much of the Russian developed city is no longer there.

The Russian Jews came to Harbin in three relatively distinct phases.

In the early 1900s, Japan offered to recognise Russia’s influence in Manchuria in exchange for Russia’s recognition of Japan’s influence in Korea. Upon Russia’s refusal, Japan declared war.

The Russian Jews, although denied of civil rights and confined in the Pale, found themselves at the forefront of conscription; as second tier citizens, they were on the priority list when it came to mustering.

In 1905, Russia lost the 19-month war and lacked the funding to repatriate troops. Demobilized soldiers, including many Jews who were reluctant of returning to the Pale of Settlement, decided to settled down in Harbin.

By 1908, there were about 8000 Russian Jews in Manchuria; in fact, a third of all Russians in Harbin were of Jewish descent. In 1909, the growing population built a synagogue which would come to be the centre of their worship and gatherings. In 2014, this synagogue was refurbished into a concert hall for the performance of classical music.

The final wave of Jewish immigrants, scared by the anti-Semitism of the Nazis, came to China in terror. The Chinese take great pride in this part of history, because during this period Shanghai alone took in more refugees – 23,000 Ashkenazi Jews – than Canada, India, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia combined.

On October 19th, 1938 the wealthy Baghdadi Jews established the Committee for the Assistance of European Jewish Refugees in Shanghai to provide the much-needed food, housing, education, and medical care to those who could not help themselves. By July 1939, assistance from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee arrived as well, in the form of volunteers and financial aid.

Refugee life in Shanghai was tough. Harsh weather and inadequate sewage contributed to a high illness and death rate. The Sino-Japanese War and Japanese occupation completely destroyed the economy and wiped out nearly all employment opportunities. The men had even more difficult time adjusting because they mostly came from well-educated and well-respected professional backgrounds; the harsh reality of living on third-party aid was extremely degrading and hard to accept. Interaction with Chinese neighbours, themselves oppressed by the Japanese, was made even more strenuous due to the language barrier and fighting over extremely limited resources.

By end of 1939, the Jewish communities took care of the basic needs of almost 16,000 refugees.

On 7th December, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbour and officially entered the Second World War. The Japanese took over the foreign concessions and now took control of the entire Shanghai. They ended all foreign aid, including that of the American Jewish Community.

The Baghdadi Jews were sent to work camps on the outskirts of Shanghai where they were over-worked, underfed and housed in extremely cramped accommodations. The Russian Jews, together with other European residents in Shanghai, not only were sent to work camps but were also required to wear armbands to identify themselves and had their movements being monitored and restricted.

The large mansions owned by the Baghdadis were now occupied by the Japanese troops. Their assets were confiscated and their businesses came to a complete halt. Many Baghdadis resorted to selling their valuables to sustain a living. The Jewish community in Shanghai completely fell apart.