"With
respect to the Israelitish religion, we find on inquiry that its first
ancestor, Adam, came originally from India, and that during the (period of
the) Chau State the Sacred Writings were already in existence.
The Sacred
Writings, embodying Eternal Reason, consist of 53 sections. The principles
therein contained are very abstruse, and the Eternal Reason therein
revealed is very mysterious, being treated with the same veneration as
Heaven. The founder of the religion is Abraham, who is considered the
first teacher of it. Then came Moses, who established the Law, and handed
down the Sacred Writings. After his time, during the Han Dynasty (B.C. 206
to A.D. 221), this religion entered China. In (A.D.) 1164, a synagogue was
built at P'ien. In (A.D.) 1296, the old Temple was rebuilt, as a place in
which the Sacred Writings might be deposited with veneration."
[According to their oral tradition, the Jews came to China from Si Yih
(Western Regions), probably Persia, by Khorasan and Samarkand, during the
first century of our era, in the reign of the Emperor Ming-ti (A.D. 58-75)
of the Han Dynasty. They were at times confounded with the followers of
religions of India, T'ien Chu kiao, and very often with the Mohammedans
Hwui-Hwui or Hwui-tzu; the common name of their religion was Tiao kin
kiao, "Extract Sinew Religion." However, three lapidary inscriptions,
kept at Kai-fung, give different dates for the arrival of the Jews in
China: one dated 1489 (2nd year Hung Che, Ming Dynasty) says that seventy
Jewish families arrived at P'ien liang (Kai-fung) at the time of the Sung
(A. D. 960-1278); one dated 1512 (7th year Cheng Teh) says that the Jewish
religion was introduced into China under the Han Dynasty (B.C. 206-A.D.
221), and the last one dated 1663 (2nd year K'ang-hi) says that this
religion was first preached in China under the Chau Dynasty (B.C.
1122-255); this will not bear discussion.
The synagogue, according to these inscriptions, was built in 1163, under
the Sung Emperor Hiao; under the Yuen, in 1279, the rabbi rebuilt the
ancient temple known as Ts'ing Chen sse, probably on the site of a
ruined mosque; the synagogue was rebuilt in 1421 during the reign of
Yung-lo; it was destroyed by an inundation of the Hwang-ho in 1642, and the
Jews began to rebuild it once more in 1653.
The first knowledge Europeans had of a colony of Jews at K'ai-fung fu, in
the Ho-nan province, was obtained through the Jesuit missionaries at
Peking, at the beginning of the 17th century; the celebrated Matteo Ricci
having received the visit of a young Jew, the Jesuits Aleni (1613), Gozani
(1704), Gaubil and Domenge who made in 1721 two plans of the synagogue,
visited Kai-fung and brought back some documents. In 1850, a mission of
enquiry was sent to that place by the London Society for promoting
Christianity among the Jews; the results of this mission were published
at Shang-hai, in 1851, by Bishop G. Smith of Hongkong; fac-similes of the
Hebrew manuscripts obtained at the synagogue of Kai-fung were also printed
at Shang-hai at the London Missionary Society's Press, in the same year.
The Jewish merchants of London sent in 1760 to their brethren of Kai-fung
a letter written in Hebrew; a Jewish merchant of Vienna, J. L. Liebermann,
visited the Kai-fung colony in 1867.
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