1st Edition

The Jewish-Chinese Nexus A Meeting of Civilizations

Edited By M. Avrum Ehrlich Copyright 2008
    326 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    328 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    The Jewish Chinese Nexus explores through a collection of articles the nexus between two of the oldest, intact, starkly contrasting and most interesting civilizations on earth; Jews and Chinese. This volume studies how they are interacting in modernity; how they view each other and what areas of cooperation are evolving between their scholars, activists and politicians and what talents, qualities and social assets are being recognized on each side for the purpose of cooperation and exchange.

    Featuring contributions from some of the most important scholars and activists from China and from around the Jewish Diaspora, the essays purview China related themes including the fascination of Chinese with Jews and Judaism and its potential value in Chinese national and religious reconstruction; religious and ethnic identity; East – West interactions. It deals with the growing Jewish community in China and its impact as well as the development of Jewish studies in China and the translation of Jewish texts into Chinese and their impact.

    The work is a first of its kind, identifying an emerging meeting point between these two people and arguing that despite the giant contrasts in their national constructs they have nonetheless other important patterns and themes in common which pave the way for fruitful cooperation and mutual respect.

    Part 1: Contemporary Jews in China  1. Overview of the Jewish Presence in Contemporary China M. Avrum Ehrlich  2. China’s Realities from the Viewpoints of "Foreign Experts" Matthias Messmer  3. Contemporary Development of Jewish Life in Asia: A Personal Memoir David C. Buxbaum  Part 2: Comparative Culture and Thought  4. Crossing Boundaries between Confucianism and Judaism Galia Patt-Shamir and Yaov Rapoport  5. Confucianism and Judaism: A Dialogue in Spite of Differences Galia Patt-Shamir  6. Judaism and its Referential Value to the Cultural Reconstruction of Modern China Fu Youde  7. Rethinking the Nanjing Massacre and its Connection with the Holocaust Zhang Qianhong and Jerry Gotel  Part 3: Chinese Perceptions of Jews  8. A Chinese Perspective of Judaism and the Jewish People Fu Youde  9. Israel and the Jewish People in Chinese Cyber Space Since 2002 Zhang Ping  10. The Influence of Jewish Literature in China Fu Xiaowei and Wang Yi  Part 4: Jewish Studies and Literature  11. Australian Jewry, its Relations with China and the First Steps in Jewish Studies Sol Encel and Suzanne D. Rutland  12. The Developing Role of the Hebrew Bible in Modern China Yiyi Chen  13. Modern Hebrew Literature in China Zhong Zhiqing  Part 5: Kaifeng Jewish Descendents  14. The Contemporary Condition of the Jewish Descendants of Kaifeng M. Avrum Ehrlich and Liang Pingan  15. Chinese Government Policy towards the Descendants of the Jews of Kaifeng Xu Xin  16. The Judaism of the Kaifeng Jews and Liberal Judaism in America Anson Laytner  Part 6: Phenomena of the Jewish Chinese Nexus  17. Adopted Chinese Children into Jewish Families David Straub  Part 7: China-Israel Relations  18. Sino-Israel Relations at the Start of the Second Decade: A View from Shanghai & Jerusalem Ilan Maor  19. Economic and Cultural Relations between China and Israel since the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations in 1992 Jonathan Goldstein  20. China’s Potential Contribution to Middle East Co-Operation Liang Pingan  Bibliography

    Biography

    M. Avrum Ehrlich is a full professor of Jewish Thought at the Centre of Judaic and Inter-Religious Studies at the Department of Religion at Shandong University, a government funded national centre for Inter-religious research in Jinan, China. Ehrlich is a theologian, social philosopher and scholar of classic Jewish texts as well as being involved in training Chinese scholars to understand and translate Jewish concepts and classics into Chinese.