Shanghai and Hong Kong have appeared in many literary works in the form of “A Tale of Two Cities” since the Republic of China. Ang Lee’s movie “Lust Caution”. Who made these two cities in the east and the south?
Of course there are many history and factors. Among them is a very important but often forgotten force: the Jews of foreign nations. Regarding this story, I have to start with a meal I attended.
This article is from WeChat official account:ring planetary ball (ID: huanxingxingqiu) author: Laura Shen, Reviewer: Sun green, layout: Wenqi, title figure from: vision China
Exquisite menu, beautiful tableware, this is my working lunch in Lion City. With the people in the media from all over the world, with the common human emotions and common sense, everyone expressed their opinions on the morning art fair interview. Even though the misunderstanding caused by cultural differences is inevitable, they still smile friendly because of the common belief in respect and dignity. .
Just like the western food on the table, even if it tastes like chewing wax, I must eat it and compliment it. This is the Sands Hotel in Marina Bay, Singapore. As the city has always styled, any conflicting elements can be accommodated in a common space that is exquisite and perfect.
Lunch meeting at the Sands Hotel, photo: Laura Shen▾
At this time, the public relations manager of Sands Hotel came to give a speech. She has a deep face, a straight nose, and a westernized appearance. The complexion is not white, slightly brown, and has Indian characteristics, but she is different from any Indian I have ever met. Her tall nose seems to vaguely tell a certain genetic code And family affairs.
She is eloquent, shrewd and capable. I can’t help thinking that the world-famous Sands Hotel is the facade of Singapore, choosing to hire this skin-skinned Indian woman as a public relations manager, she must be extraordinary.
“This is a highly cosmopolitan city where all cultures can exist. It is an excellent place to hold a world-class expo.” The public relations manager said, “This is the first time many of you are here. Actually, I The same, I am an immigrant. I am a Jew, an Indian Jew.”
Indian Jews: From Baghdad and Mumbai to Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai
These words quickly aroused the interest of the Swiss “New Zurich” reporter beside me. He asked curiously: “You are a Jew, but from India?”
This is exactly what I want to ask. As one of the three major ethnic groups in this city, I have seen too many Indians, but this is the first time I have seen people who claim to be Indian Jews. I also secretly took a chance, and affirmed my insight as a reporter: from the moment she entered the restaurant, I knew her life was extraordinary.
“Yes, Indian Jews, maybe many of you have heard of it for the first time, right?”
Public Relations Manager (left), photography: Laura Shen▾
Several East Asian journalists have all started to dine, but the Swiss journalist and I are still interested in the manager’s life experience and continue to inquire.
“Many people don’t know about Indian Jews. Few people know us, because most of the Jews are in the United States, Europe and Israel. Do you know the three major tribes of Jews, Ashkenazi, Safadi, Miz Rashi?” the manager asked.
The Swiss reporter nodded, but I couldn’t understand it. Afterwards, I quickly made up for Jewish history: it turned out that Western and Eastern European Jews belonged to Ashkenazi, Southern European and Middle Eastern Jews belonged to Saifadi, and Middle Eastern and Central Asian Jews belonged to Mizrahi.
After confirming that the Swiss journalist has a foundation in Jewish history, she said: “We Hindu Jews are the ten disappeared tribes.”
According to the “Bible” legend, ancient Israel was composed of twelve tribes, of which the Samaritan kingdom established by ten tribes in the north was annihilated by the Assyrian Empire in the eighth century BC, and its residents were exiled and dispersed to various parts of Asia. Including India.
There have been many historical works on the ten tribes that disappeared.
Picture: Oxford University Press▾
After seeing this Indian Jewish woman, I suddenly felt that my world was small and narrow. Even though I am writing for the planetary sphere, there is probably no nation in the world more qualified to interpret what is meant by the planetary sphere than the Jews. The vast world outlook of this nation is unmatched by most nations in the world.
Although Hindu Jews may sound unfamiliar, when I opened the modern history of China, I suddenly realized that many historical figures who were familiar with them were Hindu Jews, and the modern history of Shanghai and Hong Kong was inseparable from the Indian Jewish family.
The famous Shanghai BundThe Sassoon Building was founded by the Sassoon family of Indian Jews.
Picture: Victor Wong / Flickr▾
The Peninsula Hong Kong is the oldest hotel in Hong Kong, founded by the Kadoorie family of Indian Jews.
Picture: mcklui / Shutterstock▾
Indian Jews are divided into Cochin Jews(Cochin Jews), Benny Israelis(Bene Israel) and Baghdad Jews and so on.
Cochin Jews are the earliest ethnic group, claiming to be descendants of King Solomon, concentrated in Cochin, Kerala, southern India; Benedict Israel settled near Mumbai. The most prestigious are the Baghdad Jews.
Bollywood actress Nadira is an Indian Jew.
Picture: Medium▾
The Baghdad Jews are Jews who immigrated to South Asia from Iraq, including the famous Sassoon family, Kadoorie family, Ruben family(Reuben), the Judah family (Judah) etc.
They started from Iraq, entered Mumbai, and then expanded their business to Yangon, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai, creating a trade belt from West Asia to the Far East.
The Ruben brothers, the second richest man in the UK, are Hindu Jews born in Mumbai.
Picture: Wikimedia Commons▾
Singapore has a long-standing Jewish community. Sir Manasseh Meyer, a wealthy Jewish businessman in India, built a private synagogue, the Sanno Jewish Temple. In 1931, Jews were the group with the most real estate in Singapore. Singapore’s first prime minister, David Marshall, was an Hindu Jew, belonging to the Jewish branch of Baghdad, and also the largest opposition party newly added.Founder of Poe Workers’ Party.
Marshall and Lee Kuan Yew together.
Picture: National library board▾
The Jews continued to create brilliance after they came to Shanghai and Hong Kong. Shanghai and Hong Kong, as the two major cities of modern China, can be said to be partly made by Jews.
Sassoon, Kadoorie, He Dong, Nathan
The rise of Shanghai, the Pearl of the Orient, is closely related to a Jewish family:
Sassoon(Sassoon) is also known as the Rothschild family of the East. It is the earliest foreign adventurer in Shanghai and is known as Shanghai real estate king.
Founder David Sassoon (the one sitting in the middle) and his three sons.
Picture: Wikimedia Commons▾
David Sassoon’s fatherPro was the chief financial officer of Baghdad, Iraq. Persecuted by local anti-Semitists, David Sassoon came to Mumbai, India in 1832 and founded Sassoon Bank.
His son Ilias David Sassoon came to Hong Kong in 1844 and moved to Shanghai in 1850. The Sassoon Building on the Bund was completed in 1929, and Chinachem Hotel (now Peace Hotel) is located in it.
In 1935, the Sassoon family built the Riverside Building, Chinachem Apartments, Jinjiang Hotel, Sassoon Villa and other buildings in Shanghai.
The Sassoon family was once the largest opium dealer in China. In the 1830s, the Sassoon Company sold British opium into China. The HSBC Bank of Hong Kong was founded with the support of David Sassoon. Hong Kong’s Sassoon Road (Sassoon Road) is located at the University of Hong Kong to commemorate Victoria’s Kudo Sassoon’s contribution to Hong Kong. Yes, the world is so complicated.
In old Shanghai photos, Chinachem Apartment is located at the left rear of the picture, and the building at the center and rear is the Jinjiang Hotel VIP Building.
Picture: Wikimedia Commons▾
The Kadoorie family (Kadoorie) is also a Jew from Baghdad. It rose in Mumbai, India in the middle of the 18th century, and then went to Hong Kong and Shanghai. One of the richest families.
The Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Co., Ltd. was founded in 1866. In 1926, Yili Kadoorie founded The Peninsula Hong Kong, and later developed the Peninsula Hotel global chain brand.
Sir Roland Kadoorie is on the left, and his father Erie Kadoorie is in the center.
Picture: celebfamily.com▾
The Peninsula Hotel.
Picture: lentamart / Shutterstock▾
The Kadoorie family also runs CLP Power, one of the two major power suppliers in Hong Kong.
Sir Roland Kadoorie went to Beijing to meet Deng Xiaoping in 1985, and reached an agreement to build a joint-venture nuclear power plant in Shenzhen Daya Bay, and imported electricity into Hong Kong through the family’s CLP Power Group.
Rolandz Kadoorie and Li Ka-shing.
Picture: The Hong Kong Heritage Project▾
Rolandz Kadoorie meets with Deng Xiaoping.
Picture: clp.com.hk▾
Michael Kadoorie is the head of the Kadoorie family and one of the ten richest people in Hong Kong.
Picture: fortuneinsight.com▾
The first richest man in Hong Kong after the opening of the port was a Jew, the Dutch Jew Ho Tung. The Ho Tung family was the first prominent family in Hong Kong during the British era.
He Dong worked at Jardine Matheson earlier, was the earliest comprador class in China, and later invested in real estate and founded trust funds. The Ho Tung family is huge, spanning Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau and overseas, and martial arts star Bruce Lee and gambling king Stanley Ho are all related to it.
The Ho Dong family is a Jewish-Chinese mixed family.
Picture: thepaper.cn▾
Stanley Ho (left) and members of the He Dong family.
Picture: Google▾
As a child, Bruce Lee and his parents, and his mother He Aiyu comes from the He Dong family.
Picture: Google▾
The Jews also served as the Governor of Hong Kong during the British period. Sir Nathan is No. 1Three Governors of Hong Kong, and the first Jews to serve as Governors of a British colony.
During his tenure as the Governor from 1904 to 1909, he witnessed the development of Hong Kong, connecting Hong Kong trams, single-deck buses, building the Kowloon-Canton Railway, and developing the Kowloon Peninsula. Today, Nathan Road in Kowloon, Hong Kong is named after him to commemorate his contribution .
Sir Nathan
Picture: Wikimedia Commons▾
Jews in China
The “disappeared ten tribes” of the Jews not only dispersed to India, but also came to China. They arrived in the capital city of Kaifeng during the Song Huizong reign of the Northern Song Dynasty, which is the Kaifeng Jews, or Shuhu, the Blue Hat Huihui, and the Qinghui Hui. It is also called one in Judaism. Give joy to teach, to teach.
Kaifeng Jews.
Picture: Wikimedia Commons▾
By the early 20th century, the Chinese hardly knew about the existence of Kaifeng Jews, even though they already existed.In 700 years. In the past, people often conflated Judaism and Islam, and mistaken Jews for the Hui.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, Jews moved from Persia and India to Kaifeng. During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Kaifeng Jews suffered a lot. In 1852, Jewish religious groups in the United States began to aid the cause of Chinese Jews. Shanghai established the Chinese Jewish Aid Association and Kaifeng The Jews were gradually discovered and studied.
Most of Kaifeng Jews have been Sinicized, and their descendants live in Han or Hui communities. After the founding of Israel, Kaifeng Jews once embarked on the road of return and returned to Israel.
Kaifeng Jews.
Picture: Google▾
After the opening of Shanghai and Hong Kong in the 19th century, Jews from Baghdad and India came to China and formed Jewish communities in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
At that time, the estates of Jewish Hatong were scattered on Nanjing Road in Shanghai.
Picture: www.synotrip.com▾
After the Russian Revolution in 1917, Russian Jews entered ChinaThe number of Jews, including the grandfather and parents of Israel’s 12th Prime Minister Olmert, became the second largest Jewish settlement in China after Shanghai. Many Western buildings in Harbin were built by Russian Jews. Tianjin is the third largest Jewish city in China.
Harbin Synagogue.
Picture: Boaz Rottem / Alamy Stock Photo▾
Tianjin Heping District Synagogue.
Picture: bricoleurbanism / Flickr▾
From the 1930s to World War II, Chinese diplomat He Fengshan issued refugee visas for Eastern European Jews. European Jews arrived in Shanghai to escape Nazi persecution. Shanghai was one of the few Jewish safe havens in the world. From the War of Resistance and the Republic of China to the founding of New China, Jews participated in Chinese history.
The Austrian Jew Jacob Rosenfeld was a field doctor in the Communist army during the War of Resistance, The picture shows him with Liu Shaoqi and Chen Yi.
Picture: The Times of Israel▾
Jewish Maurice Abraham Cohen, also known as “Double Gun Cohen”, served as an aide to Sun Yat-sen and a major general of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army.
Picture: teacup.media▾
The American Jew Saboli came to China in 1947 and became a Chinese citizen in 1963. He is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a writer, and a translator.
Picture: theworldofchinese.com▾
Israel Epstein, a Polish Jew, came to China at the invitation of Soong Ching Ling in 1951 and became the editor-in-chief of “China Today” magazine. He became a Chinese national in 1957 .
Picture: China Internet Information Center▾
The public relations manager left the lunch meeting after greeting. Her intelligence and keenness allowed me to see once again the outstanding standards of Jews in all walks of life. Compared with her complicated pedigree and life experience, the various global citizens at this mixed culture lunch are not to be mentioned.
The people left in a room, in this mixed city, are communicating, communicating, laughing, misunderstanding, hypocritical, and responding. The Jews left from the fixed order of mankind, circled all the way along the edge of difference, linking the broken pieces together. This rigid world has become agile because of their wandering.
This article is from WeChat official account:ring planetary ball (ID: huanxingxingqiu) author: Laura Shen, Reviewer: Sun green, layout: Wenqi