SEMINAR: Asian Studies Seminar Series

In January 1993 the Kaifeng Municipality announced the launch of the Construction Office of the Jewish History Museum “in accordance with the country’s policy in foreign affairs, minorities and religion.” The museum was meant to commemorate the historical community of Kaifeng’s Jews, established in the late 10th century by a small group of Persian Jewish traders, whose synagogue endured for over 700 years. No reference was made to the living descendants of these Chinese & Jews or of their revival of cultural identity eclipsed since the destruction of the synagogue in which had been gaining gradual momentum since the advent of China’s “reform and openness” policy. This reconstruction of identity was influenced by multiple and often contradictory articulations on the significance and utilisation of Chinese & Jewish culture. These included notions from ethnologists, businessmen, rabbis, tourists,philanthropists, diplomats, evangelists and government officials, both local and national. This paper aims to deconstruct the variety of discourses that impacted both the revival of Sino Judaic identity and the subsequent establishment of the Construction Office. It examines the ways in which manifold expressions competed and combined to create the fluid boundaries of “culture” and to elevate it towards a series of politically significant events.