Chinese Perceptions of the Jews' and Judaism: A History of the Youtai

by Zhou Xun, Xun Zhou

Overview

While prejudice against Jews is a real and ongoing category in Western culture, little attention has been paid to the myths of the Jews' and their impact in countries outside the West. This work draws on a wide variety of source materials from the past two centuries to examine the images of the Jews' as constructed in China. However, the interest here does not lie in the determination of the boundary between the real and fictional aspects of these images. Rather, it lies in the implications associated with the Jew' as an other', which remains a distant mirror in the construction of the self' amongst various social groups in modern China. Although it has been noted by a few scholars that the use of the Jews' as a category was important to many thinkers of modern China in the construction of their nationalistic and socio- political ideologies, this is the first systematic study in the field to be published. This book is also more than a historical book on China in that it opens a new arena for modern Jewish studies from a unique angle.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781136835162
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/16/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	202
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Zhou Xun studied Hebrew and Jewish Studies at UCL, and is a research fellow in the Department of the Study of Religions, School of Oriental and African Studies.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 China, Missionaries and ‘Jews’ 1605–1870; Chapter 3 Encountering and Reinventing the ‘Jews’ 1870–1915; Chapter 4 The ‘Jews’ in the May Fourth Period 1915–1930s; Chapter 5 The ‘Jews’ and the ‘Science of Race’ 1915–1949; Chapter 6 Chinese Perceptions of Zionism 1915–1949; Chapter 7 Anti-Jewish Policy in Japanese Occupied China during the War Period 1937–1945; Chapter 8 Epilogue: Old Myths and New Phenomena 1949–1997;

Editorial Reviews

...it is a welcome addition to the meager English-language literature on the Chinese and Jews...

Choice

'Dr Zhou has produced a fascinating examination of Chinese notions of race and culture by examining how Jews are imagined in China ... a fine piece of scholarship. It is well-written, analyses new information in exciting ways and opens up important discussions about race and national identity for numerous disciplines.' - Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

From the Publisher