Judaic Studies hosts Xin
Josh Kurtz
Issue date: 2/11/11 Section: News
-This article updated Feb. 24, 2011-
Drexel's Judaic Studies program hosted a presentation by Xu Xin, a professor of religious studies and the head of the Glazer Institute of Jewish Studies at Nanjing University in China, Feb 8.
The program was entitled "The Jewish Diaspora in Modern China: The Jewish Experience in China after 1840."
Xin is the "leading professor of Jewish studies in China," according to Rakhmiel Peltz, director of Drexel's Judaic Studies program, who introduced Xin's presentation. Peltz added that Xin created China's first exhibit on the Holocaust, has written and edited Jewish books, and has led tours of Jewish sites in China, among other work.
Xin said before the presentation that he has spoken at over 80 colleges in the United States about Jews and China.
During his presentation, Xin discussed the changes that occurred in China after it began to re-open to the West in the 1840s, a time that Xin said marks the start of modern China. At this time, Europeans, including Jews, began to move to the country. Xin said the migration of Jews to China occurred "constantly for over 100 years," and that eventually around 40,000 Jews moved to China.
"[The migration] had everything to do with the changing of Chinese society," said Xin. He added that Jews moved to China for various reasons including business opportunities available through European colonialism, pogroms against Jews in Russia and, later, to escape from the Holocaust.
Xin said the Jews who moved to China during the 1800s were, for the most part, very successful. He added that they were important in the development of Shanghai, much of which was developed by Europeans, and later became an important center of international trade.
"The Jewish contribution [was] out of proportion to their population," in cities such as Shanghai, Xin recalled.
Other areas that featured significant Jewish populations included Hong Kong and Harbin, a city many Russian Jews arrived at through an extension to the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Drexel's Judaic Studies program hosted a presentation by Xu Xin, a professor of religious studies and the head of the Glazer Institute of Jewish Studies at Nanjing University in China, Feb 8.
The program was entitled "The Jewish Diaspora in Modern China: The Jewish Experience in China after 1840."
Xin is the "leading professor of Jewish studies in China," according to Rakhmiel Peltz, director of Drexel's Judaic Studies program, who introduced Xin's presentation. Peltz added that Xin created China's first exhibit on the Holocaust, has written and edited Jewish books, and has led tours of Jewish sites in China, among other work.
Xin said before the presentation that he has spoken at over 80 colleges in the United States about Jews and China.
During his presentation, Xin discussed the changes that occurred in China after it began to re-open to the West in the 1840s, a time that Xin said marks the start of modern China. At this time, Europeans, including Jews, began to move to the country. Xin said the migration of Jews to China occurred "constantly for over 100 years," and that eventually around 40,000 Jews moved to China.
"[The migration] had everything to do with the changing of Chinese society," said Xin. He added that Jews moved to China for various reasons including business opportunities available through European colonialism, pogroms against Jews in Russia and, later, to escape from the Holocaust.
Xin said the Jews who moved to China during the 1800s were, for the most part, very successful. He added that they were important in the development of Shanghai, much of which was developed by Europeans, and later became an important center of international trade.
"The Jewish contribution [was] out of proportion to their population," in cities such as Shanghai, Xin recalled.
Other areas that featured significant Jewish populations included Hong Kong and Harbin, a city many Russian Jews arrived at through an extension to the Trans-Siberian Railway.
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