| Show SETTLE ENS OF ES In tho of China Chinn Havo for Moro Seven I I Now Loft Left They Were Welo I Strong and n Power In the Lond I In tb the heart ot of even hundred tram on th the banks ot of the tb Ito or Yellow illow river live acv v ven en ot of e J Bole eole ot of seventy clan fl Ih e thou and strong who callIe Into the kingdom It at th the time of oC te U If who reigned about 11 t D These oven rep represent nt what at one time was w a power In city ot of Jew Ito 10 wealthy AntI and esteemed that an emperor built a tor made on oC them 1115 or A reat another a general In the Imperial army and honeyed them In III various other way I Then to the golden liKe age of In China these Chinese Chine Jews Jewl prospered red to 10 ao 10 brat reat sc an extent that they the grew lIw In their worship find and neglected the God ot of their fathers Today II fa a ma mau of oC rube most mOlt ot of it 11 sold to furnish tool foal for tor the seven n families and cl reign umang them Their erred book hut have been old their rites forgotten their language has become a mere mert memory and their origin one ot of the m mysteries ot of the Orient The ThO existence ot of Chinese Jews has I long been a for tor although their and existence have been 1 es beyond doubt yet et so 10 much of It their hIli history tor I is that the moat profound scholars students ot of Jewish end and Oriental history have haven been n at variance u to their origin The survivors and amt th those and nil spoken to during durin the thc last lut two hundred find and fifty tart ears all bore the Imprint or of the Jew There could lit be no doubt on that score cor corot Not ot only that but they observed most moat of the customs ot of their ancestors anI and worshiped In the orthodox manner The tact fact or of their and lie de descent scent has hall not lot been In dispute but the Ih hy and the wherefore or of their pr pree end In China hat has caused caud considerable controversy among those thOle Interested In such ma matters Ut M Some have held that the they were the lost Olt tribes 0 of Israel but bUL this la III wild 1 especially a Chi China ilK was wall referred re to only In III the Bible Dible when I Isaiah Illah 10 12 2 says I these from Ih the hand or of Minim China At Atthe Atthe the time or of B e C III a contemporary of oC Jero Jeroboam Jeroboam boam II ruled iO amid II time Jews Jew were even 11 then renowned trader whose hol voyages voyage extended Into the tr far farthest mut Eul It If the Chinese Jews had ben been the lost boat tribes Chinese hl history tory In aU all probability have referred to them and th their lr own history would have done likewise Neither I Is the case Chinese history assert erts that the Jews Jes came to ChinA during the reign ot of te 11 ot of the lien Han or tI dy dynasty nasty about The history 0 of the Jewa Jen them dyes declares the they came cam into Inlo Nina China b A D from m Chub Chuh TheIr leader were re tIt tale heads ot of the Yen lA lie 1 Kin ln Chow Shit Shih lIan Nee Ie end and Tso Tc The They brought with them tribute or of III ai yang pu loth from the oran rp II This Thill might nerve fern aft as a clue RI as to 10 their origin hut but It Is doubtful as to which ocean Is II meant It may be the ocean the lied 1111 ea the or even one or of the inland of oC Asia AsiaIn In the days of at Ming te II H China wee Ii the ho t m most st highly civilized In the world and nil tilt the world traded with her Half a 11 dosen dOllen caravan roads roAd yeti led across Asia to time the marts marta ot of China and the Jews following their occupation or of traders over oer them repeat repeatedly edly It h took days to travel from to China Chinn It is III probable that the Jewish traders finding the country fertile and the people friendly ad advised their brothers to emigrate So Soa II a huge bure caravan was made matle up lUll and seventy clans or families started for their nEt new home In China They left letl luden In A D I and tray tra clod b by ORS easy stages acres Asia With them went rabbis and learned men who carried hol holy books bok with the say Inge of oC the prophets Finally after atter a 8 year ear of oC wandering the caravan arrived nt at Pt Peen tn on the n o the Kill fung fu ot of tolla today situated Iua to thE lime Ih tit of Pekin No o sooner hall had th the caravan arrived Ihan the Chinese bestowed a aMm name Mm upon of oC the the extraction of the kin klau ThIs re erred to the Hebrew custom of oC IX ex extracting the sinew or nerve of at flesh used for tor food 00 1 For many years yearn nearly Marly six hundred the Ihl settlement at fu pros prospered and gradually Jewish JIh traders to all puts parts or of the empire NoN rN w N The They established an elation al th ru ruport U Ua a port of entry 10 Well uld thy lh y du that III ht the year yur ur of Jews Jewl look LuoK piece the I ii i r und and influence ot of the settlement nt itt l ed greatly Chin Chinese history hillory III I men In n lions the Jews In the eleventh ll tUI jury when the annals ut un ut of the dynasties refers to us as served in III the lie II n slid and beaver 1 h n t tl liun a I is found Oil on u a tablet u h It I t It their temple ll by U I 1 um III 1611 This tablet II rim I II was WAIl founded b by A halt hall Abraham who down II I to 1 TID ih rna na gogue or Was AI built In ILL III till hili year of oC Lung hing of f the sung unK H nut In ht th the twentieth lar tit or the slat MIt Iii I Ih h cycle cde II 1161 I 1 Iee ching and W Ui two rabbis lup th Ih II ot of the ia furnished the funds The suii II tur lur burned down and aoe rebuilt In III 1 L 9 on Thoc alte isze street un on the ai uth side Ilde This temple I 1 seen lIOen III ht I lima hI sI II t n century U by ont one ot of Ih the fathers and air to Lo his Ii I lip i P lion was a 11 superb lupert affair It 4 asserted anell that this temp sr 1 SAO feet long and IbO wide Ulan 11 I around till the rI r Ira a serks of courts trim east t to heat In the center tJ ul till I first 1 court wa was a large sad tech or of white 1 w 11 golden oldell letters lIlle I the hI place tl h the Creator and of all In the Hol Holy ut of hulls beyond Which only time the mulled C kl enter ut at tiny of Stood twel tables tear tearIng Kar Ing R a roll ot of the le la one flIe for each tribe In Israel Irael In n the renter Stood table for tor hoses 1011 Each ah table was WAI en enclosed closed III ht silken Mail draperies On the ux ox western wall were wele two tablets tablet containing the ten tell commandments In golden hatters On the tRe other side Ide ot of them was wa a closet tor books and before each a tAble urn um and candelabra At service the men and nd women eat I a apart and all took tt their shoes The Themen men wore blue hal rata When reading from the Scrolls the rabbis wore a veil over their faces for tor Moses MOlee covered Ol d his hili face tace When descending the mountain after Cler receiving the ten commandments com rn A red lIken sien scarf was all suspended from the shoulder of the rabbi ant and tie tied In a knot knoL under the left Idt arm AI All present raced faced time the west ft toward Jerusalem The name or of Jho Jehn valt was AI never Eternal donal Adonal being or the Chi Chinel Chinese nese nel word heaven All As elated the Chinese Chine Jews Jewl gradually ru rule In lower until 1101 began their golden era In that year ear a committee was wa appointed to took look litter after the temple tempi and the emperor man many favors upon the Ih sect For year ea WAS s theirs I In II HI 1117 j Chou FooTing R a Jew was made chief or Ir of C the Keang pr lId then n the down downward ward II career ot of time thE JI Jes II The younger generation intermarried with the Chinese the precept of oC their religion Nero wert forgotten and gradually gradual the Jt Jews wandered away from th the teachings ot of their prophets Grad Gradually too loo Irua left them and III luck began bUln Their temple was 81 de again and when funds were ere erene ne needed ded to rebuild none were forth forthcoming coming for many years ar At last lut enough was II obtained but t the glory Ilor of o f theft Holy of oC had departed never to lo return Matters went from bad to worse until In 1600 some of the young oung Jews w went nt Into th the world In an effort to tn better their conditIon One ot of theme sought a Mandarin I 11 degree In And white while there met Matthew lurch HII time the famed Jesuit missionary According to Father the tho c called II d upon hIm one olle day and Mill Sall that as both were of one religion th the stranger lie de dered red to pay his respects Father made inquiry as to the strangers re reo and learnt learned that thai h he was 88 a JI Jew Thinking to convert him to Chrt Christianity he took him alto the chapel where the stranger bowed before beCore n a alikeness likeness ot of the Virgin and Child Chilli h do you bowl bow asked Father In astonishment Because e that Is s a picture ot of tIle the prophet 11 childhood meaning Moses probably replied the stranger Then rather told him ot of the coming of the 1 ing ot of tho Jews but the stranger laughed ughill In and declared that He was not due for tor ten thousand years Three years later Father three native Christians to but could get nothing definite about the Jewish settlement In 1613 who because of at athis his g great t learning was as dubbed the thc u u INI X h H NJ H European Confucius by the Chinese visited Kel fung tu but was wal not per to see Iee the the tame fame of oC which had hatI reached his hll ears earl The Pentateuch so 10 report had It was handed down train from father to 10 Ion eon from the earliest days ot of Jud Judea ot Of course couNe the devout Jesuit fathers were mo must t anxious to obtain of oC this treasure anI anti nearly very every year amba went to fung to with otters ot of money and nd hut but Pm In vain lIln It wa not until 1673 that Father succeeded n fly that time the Jaws hall had been beell decimated Ln In number their wealth was WAI a meatier of oC history and their spirit Will was broken Father was a permitted to see lice seethe the and amI soon lOOn dl discovered that It was 11 on only I fragmentary hl hie return to Europe Ill he published a pamphlet detailing tae hili experience e and RIving giving a translation of the tablets and he hid had Inn pamphlet caused no end of If dl discussion slid Rud tracts and un tomes ft wre wr written J r J N k MIN MINto m mI I to pro prove that the se Jews were lre descended from the eWE t tribes and nd more morl especially from the Wandering Jew The Th grew and grew until the they assumed fantastic pro proportions portions and the prevailed All sorts of propositions WI wen made to 10 solve Ih hi but nothing of importance was 81 done donI until when a expedition laried from Hong Jlong IOn gong accompanied by two Christian native After Arter being absent 1 n for some months the they returned with the news thAt the settlement at Kai was BI in III a deplorable state The few remain remaining In ing Jews hied In the ruin or of the Ihl syn synagogue and broken In Inspirit inspirit spirit They had nu no rabbI and forgot forgotten ten their almost entirely and had sold the synagogue bit U by bit In order to sustain life Sow ow the Jews number I Ithan less than ont one Jn cants Baine poor T I h mere echoes of I the hI for n rice race h |
