First Jewish Immigrant to China ---©2000 by Joy Katzen-Guthrie. Used by Permission.

A Retrospective by Joy Katzen-Guthrie

Like many Westerners, I had little knowledge of China other than bare historic facts and images in my mind of exotic temples and the Great Wall.

An extraordinary possibility of leading a tour to China a Jewish Heritage Tour, no less came as a complete surprise. It would be a mystical journey from the outset, beginning with the discovery of the Jewish connection to China, leading to an amazing fourteen days traveling through Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin, Shanghai, and Suzhou, as well as a series of Jewish Heritage Tours to China that will continue in 2001. Who could have known that this opportunity, falling so unexpectedly into my life, would be a life-changing experience and a means of discovering how people overcome seemingly unbreakable barriers to create lifelong friendships

Just last January, a friend gave my name to Steve Levin of Regent China Tours. The first call from Steve, asking if I would consider creating and leading a Jewish Heritage Tour of China, left me initially intrigued but bewildered. My work involves songwriting, recording, and cantorial singing, combined with a love of history and storytelling that I weave into my performances. I was aware of a community of Jews that had existed in China, and I offered to research the subject, but as I said so, I wondered whether I would find more than ten lines on the subject. And how would I find a way to combine such a tour with my work as a performance artist Nothing could have prepared me for the astounding stories of the Asian Jews or my immediate and intense desire to see the China. As a result of that first tour and my now frequent lectures on the subject of the Jews of China, as well as my extensive website on Jewish-Chinese history (www.joyfulnoise.net), I have received hundreds of calls and e-mails from potential travelers for future tours or from those who are interested in the subject.

The Property of a Kaifeng Jewish Family ---©2000 by Joy Katzen-Guthrie. Used by Permission.

Some lived in China during the Holocaust or have family members who did. Many are thrilled at the possibility of returning to see the country today and sharing their appreciation for the Chinese. Others have always wanted to see China and are intrigued at the thought of experiencing it from a Jewish perspective. And there have been completely unexpected responses, including correspondence from a number of Jews who have adopted Chinese children and wish to return to China with them. I had no idea that Chinese children are among the largest number worldwide being adopted by Jewish parents. China's adoption policy favors older parents, who are often turned away from U.S. adoptions, and in China, adoption is immediate and final, making it a much more viable alternative for many. It has been heartwarming for me to put these individuals in touch with one another and to discover a world of Jewish-Chinese families who desire that their adopted children retain a connection to their homeland in addition to their new Jewish-American culture.

Even many Jews do not know of the centuries-long presence of Jews in China, their common cultural and philosophical themes, as well as their harmonious co-existence for well over a millennium. For thousands of years, traders, adventurers, and refugees traveled the 5,000-mile Silk Road between the Mediterranean and China or rode ship into Chinese ports. While many historians believe that Lost Israelite Tribes found their way to China as early as the 3rd century BCE, tangible evidence of the presence of Jews in the Middle Kingdom (as it was then known) can be traced to the 8th century.