Jews in China

Irene Eber was one of the foremost authorities on Jews in China during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries—a field that, in contrast to the study of the Jewish diaspora in Europe and the Americas, has been critically neglected. This volume gathers fourteen of Eber’s most salient articles and essays on the exchanges between Jewish and Chinese cultures, making available to students, scholars, and general readers a representative sample of the range and depth of her important work in the field of Jews in China.

Jews in China delineates the centuries-long, reciprocal dialogue between Jews, Jewish culture, and China, all under the overarching theme of cultural translation. The first section of the book sets forth a sweeping overview of the history of Jews in China, beginning in the twelfth century and concluding with a detailed assessment of the two crucial years leading up to the Second World War. The second section examines the translation of Chinese classics into Hebrew and the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Chinese. The third and final section turns to modern literature, bringing together eight essays that underscore the cultural reciprocity that takes place through acts of translation.

The centuries-long relationship between Judaism and China is often overlooked in the light of the extensive discourse surrounding European and American Judaism. With this volume, Eber reminds us that we have much to learn from the intersections between Jewish identity and Chinese culture.

“The fact that these articles and chapters are still as relevant today as when they were initially penned is a credit to Eber. Those interested in Judaism in China would find this volume essential reading. Those with an interest in the more general field of religion and translation would also have much to gain from this volume. Finally, this volume acts as a fitting final publication for a scholar who led the field in life.”—Joseph Chadwin, Religious Studies Review

Irene Eber (1929–2019) was Professor Emerita at Hebrew University’s Louis Freiberg Center for East Asian Studies. She authored eleven books, including Chinese and Jews: Encounters Between Cultures, and was the editor of Jewish Refugees in Shanghai, 1933–1947: A Selection of Documents.

Introduction by Kathryn Hellerstein

Section 1: Overview

1. Overland and by Sea: Eight Centuries of the Jewish Presence in China

2. Chinese Jews and Jews in China: Kaifeng-Shanghai

3. Flight to Shanghai: 1938-1939 and Its Larger Context

Section 2: Translating the Ancestors

4. A Critical Survey of Classical Chinese Literary Works in Hebrew

5. The Peking Translating Committee and S. I. J. Schereschewsky’s Old Testament

6. Translating the Ancestors: S. I. J. Schereschewsky’s 1875 Chinese Version of Genesis

Section 3: Modern Literature in Mutual Translation

7. Bridges Across Cultures: China in Yiddish Poetry

8. Sholem Aleichem in Chinese?

9. Translation Literature in Modern China: The Yiddish Author and His Tale

10. Meylekh Ravitch in China: A Travelogue of 1935

11. The Critique of Western Judaism in The Castle and Its Transposition in Two Chinese Translations

12. Martin Buber and Chinese Thought

13. Chinese and Jews: Mutual Perceptions in Literary and Related Sources

14. Learning the Other: Chinese Studies in Israel and Jewish Studies in China

Credits

Index

Introduction

History

Jewish Studies

Religious Studies & Religion

           History of Religion

           Judaism