filed under Humans
What do Chinese people think of Jews?
4:02PM ON
08/07/2008
BY
Ari
I spent almost a year living in Beijing, and, whenever I told people I was Jewish, there was fairly standard reply: “犹太人很聪明很有钱”.
Translation: “Oh, Jews are smart and rich.” I even purchased an (extremely offensive) book in Shanghai called the “The How Jews Make Money Pillow-Side Reader.” Yes, that’s a rough translation, which is nothing compared to some of the “facts” in the book. For example, did you know that JP Morgan and John D Rockefeller were Jewish? I sure didn’t. Wait, because they weren’t.
At any rate, Brown Alum and current Beijing resident Alison Klayman, who’s blogging the Olympic madness over at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, went to Houhai Park in Beijing for a closer look at what Chinese folks think about the people of Israel:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF02MZRE5vc]
Actually, my favorite Jews in China story is the tale of the Jews of Kaifeng. It turns out, the Song dynasty capital had a synagogue and everything, and that the descendants of the Kaifeng Jews still live today.
August 7th, 2008 at 6:24PM
J Says:
Did you run into any of this:
http://www.engrish.com/image/engrish/jews-ear-fungus.jpg
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August 7th, 2008 at 11:11PM
JOE BERNSTEIN Says:
For what it’s worth I’ve never met a Chinese or Chinese American Jew hater-they have some srtiking cultural similarities.
Here’s a joke:Two old men are sitting on a park bench in NYC-a Jew and a Chinese man-the Jewish man says”I notice the Chinese are very wise”to which the Chinese man answers”well,our culture is 4000 years old’and then he says”but I notice the Jews are very wise”to which the Jewish man says”well,of course-our culture is 5000 years old”-at which the Chinese man does a double take-”that’s impossible-where did your people eat for 1000 years?”
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August 8th, 2008 at 7:29AM
Ari Savitzky Says:
Just a note on the Jew’s Ear fungus- that’s the english name. In chinese it’s called a “wood ear fungus.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auricularia_auricula-judae
And yeah, I probably ate it.
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August 8th, 2008 at 9:40AM
Eric Smith Says:
Not to be all PC bit I think the term is “Chinish”
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