Chinese Jews of Kaifeng

E11347

Jewish community diaspora community ethno-religious group

The Chinese Jews of Kaifeng are a historic Jewish community in central China, descended from merchants who settled there over a millennium ago and gradually adopted many aspects of Chinese culture while maintaining distinct Jewish traditions.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (6)

Surface form	Occurrences
Kaifeng Jews	6
Kaifeng Jewish community	5
Chinese Jewish community of Kaifeng	1
Chinese Jews in Kaifeng	1
Judaism in China	1
Kaifeng Jewish descendants	1

Statements (71)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Jewish community ⓘ diaspora community ⓘ ethno-religious group ⓘ
adopted	Chinese customs ⓘ Chinese dress ⓘ Chinese surnames ⓘ
ancestralOrigin	Indian Ocean trade network ⓘ surface form: Indian Ocean Jewish merchants Iraqi Jews ⓘ Middle Eastern Jews ⓘ Persian Jews ⓘ
arrivalApproximateCentury	10th century ⓘ 11th century ⓘ
commonSurnames	Ai ⓘ Gao ⓘ Jin ⓘ Li ⓘ Shi ⓘ Zhang ⓘ Zhao ⓘ
country	China ⓘ
culture	Chinese culture ⓘ Jewish culture ⓘ
descendedFrom	Jewish merchants ⓘ
ethnicOrigin	Jewish people ⓘ
firstDocumented	Song dynasty ⓘ surface form: Northern Song dynasty
firstDocumentedCentury	11th century ⓘ
flourishedDuring	Ming dynasty ⓘ Song dynasty ⓘ surface form: Northern Song dynasty Qing dynasty ⓘ Song dynasty ⓘ surface form: Southern Song dynasty Yuan dynasty ⓘ
followedRite	Rabbinic Judaism ⓘ Sephardi rite ⓘ
hadInstitution	community school ⓘ rabbinic leadership ⓘ synagogue ⓘ
hasDiasporaLinks	Jewish communities worldwide ⓘ Israel ⓘ surface form: State of Israel
heritageStatus	part of Chinese Jewish history ⓘ part of world Jewish diaspora history ⓘ
historicalLanguage	Hebrew ⓘ Judeo-Persian ⓘ
historicalReligion	Judaism ⓘ
integratedWith	Han Chinese ⓘ
knownFor	Hebrew–Chinese inscriptions ⓘ early Jewish presence in China ⓘ integration into Han Chinese society ⓘ sinicized Jewish culture ⓘ stone steles describing Jewish history ⓘ
language	Chinese ⓘ
locatedIn	Henan Province ⓘ Kaifeng ⓘ central China ⓘ
mainSynagogueDestroyedIn	19th century ⓘ
mainSynagogueLocation	Kaifeng ⓘ
populationTrend	decline in religious observance over centuries ⓘ
practiced	Yom Kippur ⓘ surface form: Day of Atonement Passover ⓘ Sabbath observance ⓘ circumcision ⓘ dietary laws ⓘ
recognizedAs	one of the oldest Jewish communities in East Asia ⓘ
religion	Judaism ⓘ
someMembersMadeAliyahTo	Israel ⓘ
statusIn20thCentury	largely assimilated ⓘ
statusIn21stCentury	small number of self-identified descendants ⓘ
subjectOf	Christian missionary reports ⓘ Jewish communal interest ⓘ scholarly research ⓘ
tradeRoute	Silk Road routes ⓘ surface form: Silk Road Indian Ocean trade network ⓘ surface form: maritime Silk Road

Referenced by (16)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Gao → associatedWith → Chinese Jews of Kaifeng ⓘ

this entity surface form: Kaifeng Jewish community

Gao → associatedWith → Chinese Jews of Kaifeng ⓘ

this entity surface form: Kaifeng Jews

Jin → associatedWith → Chinese Jews of Kaifeng ⓘ

subject surface form: Jin (Chinese surname associated with Kaifeng Jews)

this entity surface form: Kaifeng Jewish community

Shi → associatedWith → Chinese Jews of Kaifeng ⓘ

subject surface form: Shi (surname associated with Kaifeng Jews)

this entity surface form: Kaifeng Jewish community

Ai → associatedWithCommunity → Chinese Jews of Kaifeng ⓘ

this entity surface form: Kaifeng Jews

Zhao → associatedWithEthnicGroup → Chinese Jews of Kaifeng ⓘ

this entity surface form: Kaifeng Jews

Jewish diaspora → hasCommunityType → Chinese Jews of Kaifeng ⓘ

Zhao → hasHistoricalUsageBy → Chinese Jews of Kaifeng ⓘ

this entity surface form: Kaifeng Jewish community

Zhao → hasHistoricalUsageBy → Chinese Jews of Kaifeng ⓘ

this entity surface form: Chinese Jews in Kaifeng

Li → linkedToHistoricalCommunity → Chinese Jews of Kaifeng ⓘ

this entity surface form: Kaifeng Jewish community

Shi → notableCommunity → Chinese Jews of Kaifeng ⓘ

subject surface form: Shi (surname associated with Kaifeng Jews)

this entity surface form: Kaifeng Jews

Jin → religiousAssociation → Chinese Jews of Kaifeng ⓘ

subject surface form: Jin (Chinese surname associated with Kaifeng Jews)

this entity surface form: Judaism in China

Gao → usedByEthnicGroup → Chinese Jews of Kaifeng ⓘ

this entity surface form: Kaifeng Jews

Li → usedByEthnicGroup → Chinese Jews of Kaifeng ⓘ

this entity surface form: Kaifeng Jews

Ai → usedByPopulation → Chinese Jews of Kaifeng ⓘ

this entity surface form: Kaifeng Jewish descendants

Gao → usedInReligionOrCulture → Chinese Jews of Kaifeng ⓘ

this entity surface form: Chinese Jewish community of Kaifeng