ABSTRACT

One of the side-currents of increasing globalization in the past hundred

years or so is that Chinese and Jews have more and more occasions to meet.

Unlike Islam and Christianity, Judaism is an exclusively Middle Eastern

and Western phenomenon: very few Jews ever lived in East Asia, and Judaism played no major part in sculpting the history or culture of this part

of the world, past or present. When these meetings happen, they turn out

quite well. Although both sides expect the others to be very different, after

a short intercourse they find the other side to be much more ‘‘like us’’ than

they expected. Jews are undoubtedly struck by the Chinese lack of prejudice

and preconceptions. The Chinese are completely innocent of anti-Semitism,

a concept so deeply ingrained in Christianity and Islam; more the former

than the latter, Christianity having stemmed directly from Judaism and bearing a very complex relation to it. Chinese are struck by Jewish perse-

verance and survival through harsh historical conditions.