Crossroads: Shanghai and the Jews of China

Abstract

This article is concerned with the migrations and music of the Jewish communities that entered China from the mid 19th Century, until the end of the Second World War. Three distinct Jewish cultures migrated to China in this period, Iraqi or Baghdadi ?gr?(described as Mizrachi and Sephardi), as well as Russian and German (Ashkenazi) Jews. As each culture arrived they added to the richness of Shanghai's musical heritage, while maintaining much of their original practice. Shanghai became one of the great havens of Jewish history during the Second World War, a status that was to be short lived, as most Jews left Shanghai as refugees not long after its conclusion. Shanghai offered Jewish communities stability, stimulation and cultural freedom, something that Jewish refugees from China sought to emulate in countries such as Australia, as well as Israel, America and Canada. These stories, including my own father's, were featured in the 2001-2 Crossroads exhibition, from which this article is named, as well as an ABC Compass television special titled The Jews of Shanghai. Keywords: Twentieth-Century Shanghai; Jewish Diasporas; Jewish Music, Baghdadi, Mizrachi, Ashkenazi, Musical traditions, Australia - China.