The Jews of China

The Kosher Travel Club, a joint production of Eddie's Travel and Shai Bar Ilan Geographical Tours, invites you to discover the history of the Jews who first arrived to China around the 7th or 8th Century from neighboring India or along the Silk Road as part of trade missions from Europe.

The Jewish community of Kaifeng -established in the 11th Century -is the most ancient of its kind in China. It was most likely established by descendants of Jews who were once exiled to Babylon and who arrived to China from India and Persia. The synagogue in Kaifeng was established in 1163 and was destroyed and rebuilt numerous times until the 19th Century. The Chinese authorities never recognized the Jews of Kaifeng as a separate ethnic group. Members of the community look Chinese, speak Chinese and maintain very few Jewish traditions. Another Jewish community in China is that of Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province. Jews settled in Harbin in 1898. Over and above our exploration of China‘s Jewish past on this tour ,we will meet with the culture that created massive edifices such as the Great Wall, the Forbidden City in Imperial Beijing, the Terra Cotta Army in Xi’an and the intricate gardens of Hangzhou.