When did Jews first enter China in history, and what happened afterwards?

Academics generally believe that a large number of Jews first came to China along the Silk Road in the Tang Dynasty (around the 8th century AD), which has been fully proved by archaeological discoveries. Some scholars believe that Jews came to China as early as the Han Dynasty or even the Zhou Dynasty, but there is no conclusive archaeological discovery to prove it. After the Jews came to China, they were scattered in many cities and regions, such as Xi, Luoyang, Dunhuang, Kaifeng, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Beijing, Quanzhou, Yangzhou, Ningxia and Nanjing. But it was not until the Song Dynasty that Kaifeng formed a Jewish community with a certain scale. The record about this community is the most comprehensive and sufficient. Because of this, when it comes to the theme of Jews in ancient China, people generally choose Kaifeng Jewish community as a typical example.

China's successive dynasties advocated "Chinese-foreign integration" on the premise that foreigners did not interfere in China's internal politics, and adopted a policy of harmony and inclusiveness towards foreigners. Therefore, in the history of China, although there are many ethnic disputes, ethnic integration has always been the mainstream in ethnic relations. The Han nationality absorbed many characteristics of ethnic minorities, and ethnic minorities also absorbed many characteristics of the Han nationality, and finally formed a big family of the Chinese nation. As soon as the Jews came to China, the rulers of China adopted the policy of "equal treatment", which was followed by rulers of all dynasties. Specifically, as long as you manage well and make money properly, you can also become a giant businessman; As long as you study hard the way of Confucius and Mencius and take the road of imperial examination, you can also be an official and take power; As long as you have made achievements and established political achievements, you can also get rewards and gifts from officials at all levels and even the emperor. In Europe, Jews are discriminated against in the economic, political and cultural fields and are in an unequal position. "Assimilation" means that different things gradually become similar or the same. It is always difficult for European Jews to achieve the same status as the main nation and religion in the guest country, and naturally it is difficult to be the same as the mainstream society and culture in the guest country. On the contrary, Kaifeng Jews have always enjoyed the same treatment as all members of the Chinese family with the Han nationality as the main body, so it is not surprising that they naturally embarked on the same development path.

/kloc-After the 0/7th century, the Qing Dynasty gradually embarked on the road of closed doors, which made Kaifeng Jews completely isolated from the outside world in the last stage of their existence. For example, after the death of the last Jewish rabbi in Kaifeng, it is impossible to find a new rabbi; After the Jewish synagogue in Kaifeng was washed away by the flood, the younger generation did not know how to build a new synagogue. Due to the lack of contact with Jews in other places, Kaifeng Jews gradually gave up the tradition of intermarriage and began to intermarry with Han and Hui people. In fact, in recent hundreds of years, the Jewish community in Kaifeng knew nothing about the outside Jewish world, its national consciousness and religious tradition became increasingly weak, and the Jewish characteristics of the whole community gradually disappeared, even completely divorced from the mainstream of the development of Jewish civilization, so it was inevitable that it would gradually integrate into the trend of China's cultural and social development and eventually assimilate into the Chinese nation.