ICS Symposium: China and the Jews in the Modern Era

Symposium: China and the Jews in the Modern Era

Date:   Sunday, 19 April 2015. 8:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Place:  Mershon Center, Room 120 & Lounge, OSU
            (1501 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43201)

URL:   http://u.osu.edu/symposiumonchinajews/
Flyer:   China and the Jews in the Modern Era (pdf)
Program:  Program Schedule at the symposium website (or see the program schedule below)
 

INTRODUCTION

While Jews never constituted more than a tiny fraction of a percent of the Chinese population, their presence in the country and relationship with Chinese culture have been significant. This relationship has occurred in a number of contexts.

There was a Chinese Jewish community in Kaifeng during the late Middle Ages whose remnants have remained until the present. Jews from Baghdad came to China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to trade in opium and other merchandise. Russian Jews came to Harbin and other Chinese communities to escape violence in Eastern Europe in the early twentieth century, and a large number of Jews came to live in Shanghai during World War Two, where they were saved from death at the hand of the Nazis.

More recently there has been a considerable interest in Jews and their culture in Chinese academia, where several specialists in Jewish studies now have faculty appointments. Finally, a highly disproportionate number of Jewish families—including a number in Central Ohio—adopt Chinese children, creating another context of relations between Jews and China.

This one-day symposium, featuring a distinguished international group of scholars, will explore aspects of the relationship between Jews and China in modernity. National and international invited speakers include: Noam Urbach (Bar-Ilan University, Israel), Moshe Bernstein (University of Western Australia, Australia), Jonathan Goldstein (University of West Georgia), and Bei Gao (University of North Carolina Wilmington). In addition, graduate students and our OSU librarians will also be presenting at the symposium.

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Symposium Website:  http://u.osu.edu/symposiumonchinajews/
Flyer:   China and the Jews in the Modern Era (pdf)

This event is free and open to everyone. If you plan to come, please pre-register for planning purposes and for preparing name tags. See you all at the symposium site on April 19!

Pre-Registration:  Please pre-register here

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

MORNING SESSION

8:30 – 8:50   Registration & refreshments
Registration is free. Everyone is welcome.

8:50 – 9:00   Welcoming Remarks

9:00 – 10:05   Chair:  Prof. Matthew Goldish (History, OSU)
Invited Speaker
Jonathan Goldstein  (University of West Georgia)
“Between Russia, China, and Israel:  The Transnational Identity of Harbin’s Jews, 1899-2015, with Special Reference to the Ehud Olmert Family”

10:05 – 11:10   Chair:  Prof. Ying Zhang (History, OSU)
Invited Speaker
Bei Gao  (University of North Carolina Wilmington)
“China, Japan and the Flight of European Jewish Refugees to Shanghai, 1937-1945”

11:20 – 11:50   Kaiqi Hua  (University of California Merced)  – via videoconferencing
“Sketch of Ignaz Trebitsch-Lincoln’s Adventure in China (1922-1943)”

12:00 – 1:00   Catered lunch at Mershon Center

AFTERNOON SESSION

1:00 – 2:05   Chair:  Rabbi Anson Laytner (Seattle University)
Invited Speaker
Noam Urbach  (Bar-Ilan University, Israel)
“Sino-Christo-Judaica: The Christian Factor in the History of Kaifeng Jewry”

2:05 – 3:10   Chair:  Prof. Bei Gao (U. of North Carolina Wilmington)
Invited Speaker
Moshe Bernstein  (U. of Western Australia, Australia)
“Authenticity Claims and Authentication Processes: The Kaifeng Jews’ Revival of an Unrecognized Identity”

3:10 – 4:15   Chair:  Prof. Jonathan Goldstein (University of West Georgia)
Invited Speaker
Rabbi Anson Laytner  (Seattle University)
“Kol Yisrael Haverim: The Impact of External Jewish Contact with the Kaifeng Jews in the 20th and 21st Centuries”

4:15 – 4:30   Coffee & tea break

4:30 – 5:30   Chair:  Prof. Marjorie Chan (E. Asian L&L, OSU)
OSU Libraries’ Jewish Studies Collection and Resources on the Jews in China
Presenters:
Joseph Galron-Goldschläger  (Jewish Studies Librarian)
Guoqing Li  (Chinese Studies Librarian)

5:30 – 6:00   Ya’nan Bai (Independent Scholar) and Litong Chen (OSU)
“Nineteenth Century Mandarin in the Old Testament: A Study of the Translation of Biblical Names”

6:00   Closing Remarks

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ORGANIZERS
Melton Center for Jewish Studies
Institute for Chinese Studies

Organizing Committee
Co-Chairs:
Matthew Goldish (Director, Melton Center for Jewish Studies)
Marjorie K.M. Chan (Director, Institute for Chinese Studies)

Committee Members:
Lori Fireman  (Program Coordinator, Melton Center)
Jeffrey Chan  (Assistant Director, Institute for Chinese Studies)

Yutian Tan (President, Graduate Students of E. Asian L. & L.)
Jia Shi (Treasurer, Graduate Students of E. Asian L. & L.)
Allegra Lewison (President, Jewish Studies Student Association)
Rachel Lieberman (Treasurer, Jewish Studies Student Association)

Flyer & Poster Designer: Tan Nguyen (Communications & Events Coordinator, CLLC)

CO-SPONSORS
College of Arts and Sciences
East Asian Studies Center
Middle East Studies Center
Center for the Study of Religion
Center for Languages, Literatures and Cultures
Mershon Center for International Security Studies
Department of History
Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
Council on Student Affairs
Jewish Studies Student Association (JSSA)
Graduate Students of East Asian Languages and Literatures (GREALL)
 

SPECIAL THANKS
Our special thanks for support from the Melton Center’s Thomas and Diann Mann Distinguished Symposium Fund, the Sino-Judaic Institute, and a U.S. Department of Education Title VI Grant to OSU’s East Asian Studies Center.