Jews in Shanghai: free businessmen without a synagogue
Shangai (AsiaNews) Ehud Olmert, Israeli Vice-Premier, will soon visit China. He is going to travel with a delegation of 80 business leaders, the largest to visit China since the second world war. A recent article by Mark O'Neill, published by the prestigious Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post, presents an interesting view on the history of the Jewish community in Shanghai. The Jewish community numbers about 500, including 150 Israelis. Its members work mainly for hi-tech telecommunications, software, chemical and shipping firms. In Shanghai there is also an Orthodox rabbi, but the Chinese government refuses to allow the community to reopen synagogue, closed by the communists in 1949, because Judaism is not considered one of the 5 religions officially acknowledged by the authorities. After 1949 the situation of the Jews who lived in Shanghai had become completely difficult. Beijing began to side with the Palestinians against Israel and diplomatic relations were severed, not to be rekindled until 1992. Some families have now applied to the government for restitution of their pre-1949 property, but none have received any positive answer. According to Dvir Bar-Gal, a journalist and filmmaker who lives in Shanghai "Jews like this city because it is good for business, is safe and there is no anti-Semitism". Jews started to arrive in Shanghai in the mid-19th century. To the present day, more than 30,000 Jews have immigrated to Shanghai. 20,000 of them moved from Europe after WWII. 95% of these refugees went to Shanghai to escape Nazist persecutions. They did not need any visa, and this fact favoured their entrance in the country. Many refugees moved in the Hongkou district of the city, where they established a thriving Jewish community, with schools, shops and synagogues. In the spring of 1943, the Japanese authorities, who occupied Shanghai, announced the creation of a ghetto in Hongkou for refugees without passports. About 8,000 Jews were forced to move there, joining the 100,000 Chinese residents. Nevertheless, the Japanese did not persecute the Jews as the Nazis did in Europe. Rather, according to the historian Davis Kranzler, "They tried to harness their immense wealth and power to Japan's advantage".
The Jewish community has seen three main groups of immigrants. The earliest was a group of 700 Sephardic Jews, who arrived from Baghdad, Spain, Portugal and India. Until 1920 they were 700 people and many of them were very rich. Among them, the Sassoon, Hardoun e Kadoorie, families saw their business grow quickly. David Sassoon arrived to Shanghai in 1844. Victor Sassoon took over the family business in 1918 and opened more than 30 companies in Shanghai, where he became the city's biggest property developer. Many of his buildings survive today, including the Heping Hotel (the famous Peace Hotel) and the old JinJiang Hotel. Silas Aaron Hardoon was an employee of the Sassoon family. In 1911, he set up his own real estate company. When he died in 1931, he was worth an estimated US0 million, mainly due to his extensive real estate holdings on Nanjing Road, the city's top commercial street then and now. Elly Kadoorie was another Sassoon employee, who built the elegant house that Mr Olmert will be able to see from his window. The family set up the Shanghai Gas Company and made its fortune in real estate.
The second group of immigrants was constituted by Russians, fleeing misfortune and political and religious persecution. They initially moved to Harbin and then to Shanghai. Until 1939 the Russian Jews in Shangai were about 5,000, usually not as reach as the Sephardim. The Russian mainly worked in restaurants, coffee shops, book shops, etc.
The third group, the so called ashkenasim, moved to Shanghai between 1933 and 1941 from Germany, Austria, Poland and other European countries. They fled the Nazis persecutions. Among the first 20,000 who arrived in Shanghai, many were highly educated and became medics, teachers, musicians, etc. Many used to live in Xiafei Street (Hualihai Street) where there was a French concession.
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23/01/2019 14:51
