Looking For A Chinese Jew

You know, my random thoughts have gone far. But recently my random thoughts came to whether Chinese Jews existed, or not?

It's a simple question really.

It all came to my mind when one night me and my sister were making stupid funny accent jokes and then I thought, wouldn't it be interesting to meet a Chinese Jew who still maintained the I-cannot-pronounce-the-letter-L accent.

Instead of:

Shalom!

They'd say:

SHARRRRRROMMMMM!

Hehe.

And instead of your usual New Yorker Jewish Oi!

They'd say, Aiy!

A Jewish Chairman Mao Playing Ping Pong By Nadzirah Hashim

And if you think about it, the Chinese culture is SO different as to compare with the children of Israel you know?

Alas, my quest to meet a Chinese Jew with an I-cannot-pronounce-the-letter-L accent began.

So I looked up "Chinese Jews" on google and Wikipedia gave me an interesting answer. Apparently there WERE Chinese poeple who were Jewish! I repeat WERE.

According to Wikipedia,

"A Jewish community with a synagogue, built in 1163, existed at Kaifeng from at least the Southern Song Dynasty until the late nineteenth century. Some accounts suggest they in fact had lived there since the mid Han Dynasty.

It is surmised that the ancestors of the Kaifeng Jews came from Central Asia. The uninterrupted existence of this religious and ethnic group, lasting for more than 700 years in totally different socio-cultural surroundings strongly dominated by Confucian moral and ethical principles, is a unique phenomenon, not only in Chinese history, but also in the thousands of years of Jewish civilisation."

I was like HOLY CRAP! thats awesome! But then I read on and,

"Although the Kaifeng Jews experienced neither discrimination nor persecution from their Chinese neighbors, a process of gradual assimilation went on. Up to the 17th century, the assimilation of the Kaifeng Jews intensified and escalated. It resulted in changes in Jewish religious and ritual customs, social, and linguistic traditions, as well as increased intermarriage between Jews and other ethnic groups, such as the Han Chinese, and the Hui and Manchu minorities in China. In the 1860s, the Jewish synagogue in Kaifeng collapsed as it had long been in disrepair. As a consequence, Jewish religious life, together with the Jewish identity in the community, effectively came to an end."

Then I was like, AAAAWWW.

I was quite disappointed. I still am actually. I really really really want to meet a Chinese Jew with an I-cannot-pronounce-the-letter-L accent! Hehe.

But alas, my quest has come to a halt. Unless anyone knows where I can find what I am looking for. Yes? No? Maybe?

Well, just remember this, if you EVER come across over the internet/or even better, MEET a Chinese Jew with an I-cannot-pronounce-the-letter-L accent, PLEASE CALL ME!

Thanks!