ABSTRACT
In speaking of the Kaifeng Israelite religion, all pay honor to Chen Yuan's Study of the Israelite Religion of Kaifeng as the first modern Chinese work on the origins of that religion and the questions related to the entry of the Jews into Kaifeng. Shi Jingxun of Tongxu District, Henan, and his Study of the Origins of the Plucking the Sinews Sect of Henan, which predates the study by Chen Yuan. Aside what has already been said of Shi's text, he also treated the question of why the Kaifeng Israelites came "to honor Confucius". As for the question of the building of the synagogue in Kaifeng, Shi brought up his unique view, that the Plucking the Sinews religion had not built a synagogue in the Northern Song. The enterprising and patriotic educator all his life advocated civic education, and also emphasized "to change that outmoded imperialist education into the socialism of the ordinary people".
