A History of the Kaifeng Israelites: Encounters with Israelites in Chinese Literature

The book traces the Israelites presence in China to the earliest times. It weaves the story of the Kaifeng Israelites from original archives, memorials to the emperors, and local gazetteers with Western sources. For the first time readers are exposed to the activities of the "seventy clans", as the Chinese Jews considered themselves "all offspring of Jacob were seventy persons" (Ex 1:5) in dynastic China. This small Israelite community believed they were the sole remnants of "all Israel" (k...