Pie "chive Roto," 8 el Repay ats thas According to Forster... reside te tri Bie ra i a one hen alcatel er tele poten, aa dated Familysin he great Tarear tov Fey and the ENogan or king of GiSiaen ea alway chgeen fom Sewiah "stork, ey Regin the sixth the tenth gwitury" the Ghazars were the'lords of Sentral Asi The Jews themsclv asseverate that their ancestors China at the ie, towards the end of the reign of Ming-tt (68-75
During the following century the Hebrew population increased rapidly until the great Bai Chi Revolution in the 9th century who large percentage of the Jews perished." After this they slowly recovered until the time of the travels of Marco Polo (1286) when the principal settlements of Jews in China wore Khansa (Hangchow), Péenlang (Kaifengtu), Kanfu (now Kanpin) and Ningpo. The first named two settlements were the most important ones. The Zews at that time numbered several thousand. In 1929 and 1854 the Jews are mentioned in Chinese history as hav-ting rendered help to the declining Mongolian Dynasty. Their name is mentioned as Dju-Hudu (Yehudim).
Towards the end of the fourteenth century the large Jewish colony in Kaifengfu (Honan) suffered heavily. from inundations of the Yellow River, and frequent conflagrations sadly reduced the importance of the city. The Jewish quarter was situated not more than 500 feet from the viver embankment, and was specially prone to damage by floods." In 1642 Kaifengta was besieged; the embankments were demolished, 100,000 people perished, amongst them many Jes and many Hebrew manuscripts were destroyed, The Jewish Synagogue, was subsequently: restored. At the time the Jews were called by the Chinese: Tiao-Kin-Kiao, the sect. "that pluck out the sinews," referring to the ritual slaughter of animals. Naturally, if a Chinese saw a Jew picking out a sinew it would not take long for him to name the sect. This niekhame adheres to the Jows up to the present time. father Ricci's Record.
The first personal observations, were reported by the famous Jesuit Father Ricci in the early part of the seventeenth century, when he received a visit from a scholar who had come to Peking from Kaifengtu in order to pass his examination for government appointment. This man's name was Ngai and he mistook Pather Ricci for a co-religionist as he had heard it mentioned that he: worshipped one God. The features of this man were distinct ly different from. those of an ordin= ary Chinese. Very valuable infor-motion was gained from him and Father Ricci" and his successor, Father Julius Aleni, were able to verify all his statements by visits to the congregation at Kaifengtu. In 1704 Jesuit Father Gozani visit: ed Kaifengfu and gave full details of the Jewish customs, and he deseribed their Synagogue, which was called "Lipaistze," "ice. weekly meeting house. In the centre of the prineipall hall was erected "high chair covered with embroidered cushions, on which the Jews used to put the "Thora scroll when reading before the assembled congregation, They called it the "Chair of Moses." When the Jews entered the Synagogue they removed their shoes and "when reading in. the Thora scroll the reader covered his face, imitating Moses (Exod. 34, 83).' No Talith was used by them; they only covered their heads with blue turbans and threw red shawls over their right shoulder and tied them beneath their left arm.
Tu 1842, after the conclusion of the 'Treaty of Nanking, Mr. James afterwards British Consul at Teraialars wrote & luier companed both in Chinese and Hebrew to the Chinese Jews, which was forwarded by the British Consul at Amoy, but no reply was vouchsafed to' the sume until fully 28 years later. The then Rabbi deplored in pathetic tone the decay of the Jewish colony and their assimilation into the surrounding Chinese population. Another attempt to inquire into the condition of the Jews ut Kaifengfu was made in 1850 by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Smith, Bishop of Victoria, when paying a' visit to Shanghai. Two messengers were sent to visit the congregation, and returned after many hardships, reporting the decline of the Jewish colony numberig only 200 heads.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.