This Research Guide was originally prepared by Shoshannah Zirkin Turgel, who received her MLS from the Palmer School of Library and Information Science, Long Island University, and her MA in history from New York University in 2009.
edited and revised by the East Asian Studies Librarian on 11/21/2019, again 7/6/2020
The Last Kings of Shanghai by Laytner, Anson H. and Jordan Paper. The Chinese Jews of Kaifeng : a millennium of adaptation and endurance. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2017
Li, Jingwen. Gu dai Kaifeng Youtai ren : Zhong wen wen xian ji yao yu yan jiu / 古代开封犹太人 : 中文文献辑要与研究 Beijing: Ren min chu ban she, 2011.
NYU Bobst / East Asian DS135.C5 G823 2011
Rebouh, Caroline. The Jews of China: history of a community and its perspectives. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018.
History of the Jews arrival in China -- The great travelers and the missionaries -- The arrival of the Radanites -- The Jewish influence on Chinese thought -- The Chinese hieroglyphs -- Hebraic-Chinese terminology -- Physiognomy -- Birth and growth of the Kaifeng community -- The Kaifeng synagogue -- The twentieth century -- The community of Kaifeng today -- Future prospects of the Kaifeng Jews.
NYU Bobst / Main Collection DS135.C5 R43 2018
Weisz, Tiberiu. The Kaifeng Stone Inscriptions : The Legacy of the Jewish Community in Ancient China. New York: iUniverse, 2006.
Weisz' text is divided into two sections: the first is a translation of three stone inscriptions dated from 1489 to 1663, on which the Kaifeng Jews recorded the story of their temple, and the second analyzes what the inscriptions reveal about the life of Jews in early (Han-Song) China.
NYU Bobst / Main Collection DS135.C5 W45 2006
NYU Shanghai Library (China) / Main Collection DS135.C5 W45 2006
Wong, Fook-Kong. The Haggadah of the Kaifeng Jews of China. Leiden: BRILL, 2011
Xu, Xin. The Jews of Kaifeng, China: History, Culture, and Religion. New Jersey: KTAV Publishing House, 2003.
Xu Xin is a professor of Jewish and Inter-religious studies at Nanjing University. His book offers a solid history of the Kaifeng Jews and an analysis of their unique culture.
NYU Bobst / Main Collection DS135.C5 X92 2003
NYU Shanghai Library (China) / Main Collection DS135.C5 X92 2003
Meyer, Maisie J. From the Rivers of Babylon to the Whangpoo: a Century of Sephardi Jewish Life in Shanghai. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 2003.
A comprehensive study that covers Sephardic history and life in relation to Shanghai. This book is based on Meyer's Ph.D dissertation from the London School of Economics.
NYU Bobst / Main Collection DS135.C5 M49 2003
NYU Shanghai Library (China) / Main Collection DS135.C5 M49 2003
Hochstadt, Steve. A Century of Jewish Life in Shanghai. New York, NY: Touro University Press 2019
NYU Bobst / Main Collection DS135.C5 C355 2019
and online
China and Ashkenazic Jewry: Transcultural Encounters by Qu Wei and Li Shuxiao. Haerbin Youtai ren = Collection of Research Papers on Harbin Jews. 哈尔滨犹太人 = Collection of Research Papers on Harbin Jews. Beijing Shi : She hui ke xue wen xian chu ban she = Social sciences documentation Publishing House, 2004
NYU Shanghai Library (China) / Main Collection DS135.C5 H36 2004
Ristaino, Marcia R. Port of Last Resort: The Diaspora Communities of Shanghai. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2001.
NYU Bobst / Main Collection DS796.S484 R57 2001
NYU Shanghai Library (China) / Main Collection DS796.S484 R57 2001
Ristaino, senior Chinese acquisitions specialist at the Library of Congress, discusses the Russian refugee community that fled to Harbin and Shanghai from 1910 to 1920 because of pogroms and the Russian Revolution.
Hochstadt, Steve. Shanghai Jewish Community Oral History Project. Bates College, Maine.
"The Shanghai Jewish Community Oral History Project is directed by Steve Hochstadt, former Professor of History at Bates College. The project collects oral histories of surviving Shanghai Jews, focusing especially on the German-speaking refugees. The interviews show not only how they survived, but also how they created a community of synagogues, cafes, theaters, schools, and newspapers. The first interviews were done on a trip to China in spring 1989. The rest were taped in Florida, California, Berlin, Vienna, Salzburg, Chicago, and other places. Currently there are over 100 interviews with over 115 Shanghai Jews. Professor Hochstadt has recorded oral testimonies for more than 100 Jewish refugees who escaped to Shanghai during WWII. His study focuses primarily on German Jews. Transcripts of these interviews are available in both English and German.
Kranzler, David. Japanese, Nazis & Jews: The Jewish Refugee Community of Shanghai, 1938-1945. Hoboken, NJ : Ktav Pub. House 1988.
This ground-breaking text emphasizes the WWII refugee community. Essential for research on this topic.
NYU Bobst / Main Collection DS135.C5 K7 1987
NYU Shanghai Library (China) / Main Collection DS135.C5 K7 1987
Levine, Hillel. In Search of Sugihara: The Elusive Japanese Diplomat Who Risked His Life to Rescue 10,000 Jews from the Holocaust. New York: The Free Press, 1996.
Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies at Boston University, Hillel Levine tells the story of Sugihara, Japanese consul in Lithuania during WWII, who saved thousands of Jews during WWII. An excellent biography. Essential for understanding the history of Jews who found refuge in Shanghai via Japan.
NYU Bobst / Main Collection D804.66.S84 L48 1996
NYU Shanghai Library (China) / Main Collection D804.66.S84 L48 1996
Pan, Guang. A study of Jewish refugees in China (1933-1945) : history, theories and the Chinese pattern. Singapore: Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, 2019.
NYU online resource
Ross, James R. Escape to Shanghai: a Jewish community in China. New York: Free Press, 1994.
Ross documents the stories of four WWII refugees and tells much of Shanghai’s history as an international port city in the process.
NYU Bobst / Main Collection DS135.C5 R67 1994
NYU Shanghai Library (China) / Main Collection DS135.C5 R67 1994
Tokayer, Marvin, and Mary Swartz. The Fugu Plan: The Untold Story of the Japanese and the Jews During World War II. Jerusalem; New York: Gefen, 2004.
Bobst has 1996 edition.
Examines Japanese and Chinese relations as they pertain to Jews and Jewish life in China during WWII. Discusses a Japanese plot called the “Fugu Plan” to relocate 200,000 Jews to Manchuria during the years before the war. Focuses largely on a group of Jews who escaped first to Kobe, Japan, and later to Shanghai, and discusses Japanese-Jewish relations in Shanghai.
NYU Shanghai Library (China) / Main Collection DS135.C5 T64 2004
NYU Bobst / Main Collection DS135.C5 T64 1996
A Jewish Girl in Shanghai / 猶太女孩在上海 / Shanghai mei shu dian ying zhi pian chang. Jerusalem: Go2Films, 2010
videodisc, NYU Shanghai Library (China) / Media Center DVDSH 743
Based on the popular graphic novel by Wu Lin. This film is about Shanghai's Little Vienna, a neighborhood of 30,000 Jewish refugees during WWII.
A Place to Save Your Life the Shanghai Jews
Karen Shopsowitz. New York: Filmakers Library, 1994
Interviews with survivors, archival photographs. This film covers when Jews lived in China under Japanese rule.
Online Access (Alexander Street Press)
Chiune Sugihara: Conspiracy of Kindness.
The story of Sugihara, Japanese consul in Lithuania during WWII, who issued thousands of visas illegally to Jewish refugees. These individuals traveled through Russia and Japan before arriving in Shanghai. Includes commentary from his family and anecdotes from specific refugees who he saved.
NYU Bobst Avery Fisher Center / Main Collection DVD 12030
NYU Shanghai Library (China) / Media Center DVDSH 791
Shanghai Ghetto.
A narrative of thousands of Jews and their escape to Shanghai. Focuses on the refugees as a group without dwelling on individual stories.
NYU Bobst Avery Fisher Center / Main Collection DVD 4199
NYU Shanghai Library (China) / Media Center DVDSH 776
New School Offsite / Video DVDF-S056
Shanghai Jews: Refuge from Hitler's Germany
Films for the Humanities & Sciences. New York: Films Media Group, 2013.
Rare footage and primary documents for history of Shanghai's Jewish community.
Online Access and NYU Bobst Avery Fisher Center/Main Collection DVD 35593
Zuflucht in Shanghai: the port of last resort.
Presents the little-known story of nearly 20,000 European Jewish refugees who fled to Shanghai in the years 1938-1941, through four survivors (Fred Fields, Ernest Heppner, Illo Heppner, and Siegmar Simon).
NYU Bobst Avery Fisher Center / Main Collection DVD 9248
NYU Shanghai Library (China) / Media Center DVDSH 794
Goldstein, Jonathan, ed. The Jews of China, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1999.
2 volumes
v.1. Historical and comparative perspectives.
Collection of articles on the subject of Jews in China. Divided into three chronological sections: "The Kaifeng Experience," "Nineteenth-Century Baghdadi and Ashkenazi Experiences in India, China, and Japan," and "Twentieth-Century Baghdadi and Ashkenazi Experiences."
v. 2. A sourcebook and research guide.
Comprehensive research guide essential for scholarly work on this subject. Divided into four sections: 1. "Traditional Chinese Awareness of Jews" includes information on Chinese scholarly work and Chinese perceptions of Jews. 2. "Memoirs" includes primary source material on Judaism in Shanghai, Manchuria, and Tianjin. 3. "Research Guides" includes information about specific collections, such as the Archive at Hebrew University. 4. "Bibliography" covers resources relevant to Judaism in China "from the Tang Period (A.D. 618-906) through the Mid-1990s."
NYU Bobst / Main Collection DS135.C5 J49 1999
NYU Shanghai Library (China) / Main Collection DS135.C5 J49 1999
Encyclopaedia Judaica
A definitive work on all subjects pertaining to Judaism, Jewish culture, life, and history. Contains a “China” section with headings for “Early Jewish Visitors and Settlers,” “Modern Jewish Communities,” “China and Israel,” and a separate entry for "Shanghai.”
Contents: : v. 1. Index -- v. 2-16. A-Z -- v. 17. Supplement -- Yearbook. 1983-1985 -- Decennial Book. 1983-1992.
16 volumes.
NYU Bobst / 1st Floor Reference DS102.8 .E39 / Non-circulating
online version
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of China
1991
NYU Bobst / Main Collection DS705 .C35 1991
Bibliography of Asian Studies
Historical Abstracts
Comprehensive coverage of European History. For best results search: Jew* and China, and use faceted search terms to limit results.
Oxford Bibliographies Online
"China". In obo in Jewish Studies,
RAMBI Index to Articles on Jewish Studies
Comprehensive coverage of Judaic Studies, including Sino-Judaica, a particularly important journal. Journals also include, The Image of Jews in Contemporary China, and The Jews of China.
Beit Hatfutsot
Searching "China" on this website accesses several articles and exhibitions about Jewish communities in mainland China, Hong Kong, and elsewhere, including The Jews of Harbin, China and The Jews of Kaifeng - Chinese Jews on the Banks of the Yellow River. The museum also maintains a collection of databases that can be searched at the museum or via e-mail request.
The Jewish Community of China
IGUD YOTZEI SIN was founded in Israel in 1951 to provide community solidarity for Jews who formerly lived in China. The website’s academic content is organized by location, and provides chronologies, biographies, photographs, and lists of publications for thirteen Jewish communities in China. The coverage of areas that hosted larger communities (such as Shanghai and Harbin) is the most comprehensive.
Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum
Preserves documents and exhibits related to Jewish refugee settlement in Shanghai during the Second World War.
The Sino-Judaic Institute
Founded in California in 1985, the Sino-Judaic Institute is a non-profit organization that works to promote the cultural understanding and historical preservation of the study of Jews and Judaism in China. The institute publishes a journal called Points East three times annually. Current articles and archived editions are available on the site.
