1881: Tsar Alexander II assassinated. A Jewish radical, one Gamochov, was blamed for this. Massive pogrom ensued in Russian, and many Russian Jews fled. A sizeable number fled to Russia's new and burgeoning mining and railway concern in Manchuria.
1882: Russian Jews established several communities in Manchuria, building mines and maintaining railways. Several richer families also diversify into lumber and agriculture.
1883: The Jewish commuity in Manchuria, centred around Harbin and Changqun, established Jewish schools for their children.
1885: Desirous to improve relations with the Chinese, who due to various reasons respect or at least fear foreigners (to them Russian Jews are foreingers just as Englishmen), the Jewish schools opened annexes for the Chinese. Noting carefully the missionary schools' failure and resultant resentment caused amongst the Chinese, they refrain from teaching Judaism. However, since many of the teaching staff are devout Jews, some ideas inevitably leaked across.
1887: A young Theodor Herzl, Austrian Jew, purchased a copy of the Atlas of China by Jesuits, commissioned by the Emperor Qianlong of the Manchus. He noted with some interest the city if Xian in western China. Further studies showed him that there were Jewish enclaves in Kaifeng, ancient capital of China.
1890: The Russian Jews gained a reputation of being more even-handed than other foreigners in China, principally because Jews were very well aware of importance of good relations with their host country. Jewish communities in Manchuria engaged in more charity work, and unlike their Christian counterparts, did not seek to tie religion into it for practical reasons. Jewish businesses in Mahcuria flourish. Other Eastern European Jews migrate to the foreign concessions in China rather than America.
1894: The Drefus Affair.
1895: Sino-Japanese war ended in complete Japanese victory. Japanese troops committed atrocities in Manchuria. The various Jewish communities protected a number of Chinese in their settlements. Japanese soldiers did not pursue since the Jewish settlements were technically in the Russian sphere of interest.
1896: Theodor Herzl published Der Judenstaat, a chapter on the Chinese city of Zion (Xian) was found therein.
1897: The First Zionist Congress. The Jewish writer and amateur archaeologist Israel Zangwill gave a speech on the ancient pyramid Xian*, sparking some speculation. Jewish migration to China increased into a steady trickle. The Manchu government was happy to leave what they saw as foreingers alone, being fearful of reprisals from the Western countries from which the Jews came.
1899: Boxer Rebellion in China, Jewish communities escaped the worse of it due to their good reputation compared to other foreigners, and the distance of their main settlements from the main areas of Boxer activity
1901: Seven western powers plus Japan suppressed Boxer rebellion in China Peking sacked, Russian troops ransacked a number of Jewish homes along with the Chinese ones. Dowager Empress Cixi fled all the way to Xian, where a Jewish delegation met with her; normally she would refuse audience to foreigners, by that time the dowager Empress was too shellshocked by anything from outside China that she acquiesced. A number of Jewish lawyers accompanied the Chinese delegation to the negotations. Boxer Protocol signed by Dowager Empress Cixi of China, a little less harsh than historical. For this office the Empress granted free passage to all Jews and some land around Xian.
1903: Kishinev pogroms, more Jews fled; some to Manchuria, and a number to Xian.
1905: Russo-Japanese war ended in Japanese victory. Minor pogrom ensued in Russia. More Jews fled to Manchuria, now freer from Tsarist influence. Israel Zangwill formed the Jewish Territorialist Organisation. Zion (Xian) was one of the possible destinations.
1910: The Manchurian Jewish communities numbered some 300,000 Jews mainly of Russian Jewry, with major settlements in Harbin, Changqun and Port Arthur; in Shanghai and Canton there were some ten thousand Jews in each city; in Xian, a burgeoning Jewish community of some 50,000.
1911: Year of the Chinese revolution. A number of Jews supplied Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's revolutionaries with funds and arms, as well as connections with Western sources which Jewish communities in said countries could furnish. As a result Dr. Sun and the nascent republic held very favourable view of the Jews, viewing them as 'almost Chinese' in sympathy.
1912: Yuan Shikai succeeded Sun as President of the Republic of China
1915: Yuan Shikai crowned himself Emperor, triggering revolt all across China. Yuan died shortly after. Period of the Warlords began in China. Jews kept to themselves, while maintaining a reputation of educators and philantropists, as well as reliable merchants.
1917: China joined the Great War on the side of the allies
1919: Treaty of Versailles revealed that China would not be rewarded for her efforts, and that Germany's concessions in China were to be given to Japan instead. This triggered protests all across China. There were some rumbling amongst intellectual that the Jews did better in 1901.
1925: Death of Dr. Sun, Chiang Kai-Shek succeeded.
1927: Kuomintang purgeg the Chinese Communist Party
1928: Mukden Incident, a railway 'accident' arranged by Japan killed the warlord of Manchuria. Soviet Union established the Jewish Autonomous Oblast around Birobidzhan, on the border with Manchuria. A number of Jews, with tacit Soviet permission, went over the border to Manchuria.
1931: Japanese invaded Manchuria, swiftly taking over the entire territory. Tension between the Japanese occupation troops and the local Jews, who controlled a majority of the railway and mining assets, as well as a good portion of lumber mills and much good agricultural land. Japan established Manchukuo, the puppet state, headed by the ex-Emperor of China, Puyi
1932: Puyi issued edict confiscating an amount of Jewish property. This aroused sympathy for the Jews amongst the Chinese.
1933: Nazi Party came to power in Germany. Jewish emigration from Germany increased. Due to Western nation's reluctance to accept Jewish refugee/ emigrants, many moved to the by-now burgeoning Jewish communities in China, now numbering almost a million and a half.
1935: Due to increased Japanese colonisation of Manchuria, tension finally came to a boil as Japanese colonists with the support of the Kwantung Army and Puyi's Manchukuo authorities seized much land belonging to the Jews, and Japanese colonists looted a number of Jewish properties on the night of 22nd of July. This is known in Japan as 'Karistoru no Yoru', or Crystal Night, in reference to the broken glass. A number of Manchurian Jews migrated to other parts of China, most notably Xian (Zion).
1937: The second Sino-Japanese war began. Rape of Nanking. The defiant Jewish Quarter harboured almost twenty thousand Chinese from the Japanese, leading to various incidents in which Jews were murdered and Jewish property ransacked.
1938: Emigree Jewish engineers and technicians in China greatly boostered China's war effort. In Xian (Zion), a Jewish volunteer brigade between refugees from Nanking and Manchuria and local Jews formed.
-To be continued...
*There are a number of earthern pyramids in Xian, this is actually true
1882: Russian Jews established several communities in Manchuria, building mines and maintaining railways. Several richer families also diversify into lumber and agriculture.
1883: The Jewish commuity in Manchuria, centred around Harbin and Changqun, established Jewish schools for their children.
1885: Desirous to improve relations with the Chinese, who due to various reasons respect or at least fear foreigners (to them Russian Jews are foreingers just as Englishmen), the Jewish schools opened annexes for the Chinese. Noting carefully the missionary schools' failure and resultant resentment caused amongst the Chinese, they refrain from teaching Judaism. However, since many of the teaching staff are devout Jews, some ideas inevitably leaked across.
1887: A young Theodor Herzl, Austrian Jew, purchased a copy of the Atlas of China by Jesuits, commissioned by the Emperor Qianlong of the Manchus. He noted with some interest the city if Xian in western China. Further studies showed him that there were Jewish enclaves in Kaifeng, ancient capital of China.
1890: The Russian Jews gained a reputation of being more even-handed than other foreigners in China, principally because Jews were very well aware of importance of good relations with their host country. Jewish communities in Manchuria engaged in more charity work, and unlike their Christian counterparts, did not seek to tie religion into it for practical reasons. Jewish businesses in Mahcuria flourish. Other Eastern European Jews migrate to the foreign concessions in China rather than America.
1894: The Drefus Affair.
1895: Sino-Japanese war ended in complete Japanese victory. Japanese troops committed atrocities in Manchuria. The various Jewish communities protected a number of Chinese in their settlements. Japanese soldiers did not pursue since the Jewish settlements were technically in the Russian sphere of interest.
1896: Theodor Herzl published Der Judenstaat, a chapter on the Chinese city of Zion (Xian) was found therein.
1897: The First Zionist Congress. The Jewish writer and amateur archaeologist Israel Zangwill gave a speech on the ancient pyramid Xian*, sparking some speculation. Jewish migration to China increased into a steady trickle. The Manchu government was happy to leave what they saw as foreingers alone, being fearful of reprisals from the Western countries from which the Jews came.
1899: Boxer Rebellion in China, Jewish communities escaped the worse of it due to their good reputation compared to other foreigners, and the distance of their main settlements from the main areas of Boxer activity
1901: Seven western powers plus Japan suppressed Boxer rebellion in China Peking sacked, Russian troops ransacked a number of Jewish homes along with the Chinese ones. Dowager Empress Cixi fled all the way to Xian, where a Jewish delegation met with her; normally she would refuse audience to foreigners, by that time the dowager Empress was too shellshocked by anything from outside China that she acquiesced. A number of Jewish lawyers accompanied the Chinese delegation to the negotations. Boxer Protocol signed by Dowager Empress Cixi of China, a little less harsh than historical. For this office the Empress granted free passage to all Jews and some land around Xian.
1903: Kishinev pogroms, more Jews fled; some to Manchuria, and a number to Xian.
1905: Russo-Japanese war ended in Japanese victory. Minor pogrom ensued in Russia. More Jews fled to Manchuria, now freer from Tsarist influence. Israel Zangwill formed the Jewish Territorialist Organisation. Zion (Xian) was one of the possible destinations.
1910: The Manchurian Jewish communities numbered some 300,000 Jews mainly of Russian Jewry, with major settlements in Harbin, Changqun and Port Arthur; in Shanghai and Canton there were some ten thousand Jews in each city; in Xian, a burgeoning Jewish community of some 50,000.
1911: Year of the Chinese revolution. A number of Jews supplied Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's revolutionaries with funds and arms, as well as connections with Western sources which Jewish communities in said countries could furnish. As a result Dr. Sun and the nascent republic held very favourable view of the Jews, viewing them as 'almost Chinese' in sympathy.
1912: Yuan Shikai succeeded Sun as President of the Republic of China
1915: Yuan Shikai crowned himself Emperor, triggering revolt all across China. Yuan died shortly after. Period of the Warlords began in China. Jews kept to themselves, while maintaining a reputation of educators and philantropists, as well as reliable merchants.
1917: China joined the Great War on the side of the allies
1919: Treaty of Versailles revealed that China would not be rewarded for her efforts, and that Germany's concessions in China were to be given to Japan instead. This triggered protests all across China. There were some rumbling amongst intellectual that the Jews did better in 1901.
1925: Death of Dr. Sun, Chiang Kai-Shek succeeded.
1927: Kuomintang purgeg the Chinese Communist Party
1928: Mukden Incident, a railway 'accident' arranged by Japan killed the warlord of Manchuria. Soviet Union established the Jewish Autonomous Oblast around Birobidzhan, on the border with Manchuria. A number of Jews, with tacit Soviet permission, went over the border to Manchuria.
1931: Japanese invaded Manchuria, swiftly taking over the entire territory. Tension between the Japanese occupation troops and the local Jews, who controlled a majority of the railway and mining assets, as well as a good portion of lumber mills and much good agricultural land. Japan established Manchukuo, the puppet state, headed by the ex-Emperor of China, Puyi
1932: Puyi issued edict confiscating an amount of Jewish property. This aroused sympathy for the Jews amongst the Chinese.
1933: Nazi Party came to power in Germany. Jewish emigration from Germany increased. Due to Western nation's reluctance to accept Jewish refugee/ emigrants, many moved to the by-now burgeoning Jewish communities in China, now numbering almost a million and a half.
1935: Due to increased Japanese colonisation of Manchuria, tension finally came to a boil as Japanese colonists with the support of the Kwantung Army and Puyi's Manchukuo authorities seized much land belonging to the Jews, and Japanese colonists looted a number of Jewish properties on the night of 22nd of July. This is known in Japan as 'Karistoru no Yoru', or Crystal Night, in reference to the broken glass. A number of Manchurian Jews migrated to other parts of China, most notably Xian (Zion).
1937: The second Sino-Japanese war began. Rape of Nanking. The defiant Jewish Quarter harboured almost twenty thousand Chinese from the Japanese, leading to various incidents in which Jews were murdered and Jewish property ransacked.
1938: Emigree Jewish engineers and technicians in China greatly boostered China's war effort. In Xian (Zion), a Jewish volunteer brigade between refugees from Nanking and Manchuria and local Jews formed.
-To be continued...
*There are a number of earthern pyramids in Xian, this is actually true
