MONDAY, MAY 18TH - THE SHANGHAI JEWS

Shanghai city view


Shanghai Jewish area

Shanghai Synagogue

Ernie Heppner's home

Ernie Heppner's street

Shanghai buildings

Shanghai Mall

Shanghai Chopstick building

Yu Yuan Garden at night

Monday, May 18th - Shanghai

THE SHANGHAI JEWS Today was a very special day. We were met by a Chinese Professor who accompanied us to the Shanghai Jewish Ghetto which was populated by several waves of Jews from as early as the 800s when they came to Shanghai over the Silk Road. In the 1840s the Sephardim came to avoid persecution in the Middle East. In 1917, the Ashkenazi Jews came from Russia and they were referred to here as "The White Russians". From 1937 to 1941, thousands of Jews came to Shanghai fleeing the Nazi persecution. They came from Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Germany. They were given refuge is a small area of the city and were known as the "stateless refugees". They were allowed to move in and out of the ghetto during the day but they had a curfew at night. The designated area was bordered in the wet by Gongping Rd, on the east by Tongbei Rd, on the south by Huimiun Rd and on the north by Zhougrazu Rd. The Ghetto was 2 square meters long. This area is now a park and there is a plaque there to commemorate the ghetto. Our Chinese guide, Professor Eric, majored in British Literature. He was assigned to learn about the Jewish community here when the Jewish tourists started to seek it out in the 1980s. Before that time, he knew nothing about the Jews. We found him to be very knowledgeable. While we were in the park by the plaque, we met two elderly gentlemen who approached us. They told us that they were living near the ghetto during the war and met so many of the Jews and became friends with them. They spoke very kindly about the Jews who lived here. They eagerly pointed out where the Jewish school, restaurant and apartments were. On 59 Zhoushan Rd., we passed by the house where Michael Blumenthal lived during WWII. He became the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury during the Carter Administration. Apparently, most of the Jews left here at the beginning of the Culteral Revolution as they saw that they were going to be unable to maintain a life in China under Chairman Mao. Currently, there are about 3000 Jews living in Shanghai but they can only pray in the Jewish Community Center, not in the Synagogue. We were told that China has five sanctioned religions - taoism, Buddhism, Catholocism, Protestantism and Muslim. Officially, it is illegal for Jews to practice here but we will have to ask more about that. Somehow, we don't feel that we are getting the whole picture. The Ohel Moshe synagogue was established in 1907 and has been completely restored to its original state. There used to be an elderly Jewish man who would give tours of the Synagogue but he passed away several years ago. Now there is a Chinese man who is in charge of the tour of the Synagogue and we were so impressed with his knowledge. He spoke a little Hebrew, knew about all of the holidays, was familiar with the Chabad Rabbi Rabbi Greenberg who conducts Friday night services at the Jewish Community Center and provides a Friday night meal there. Before the was, there were seven synagogues here but now there are only two and this is the only one that has been restored. None of them are used for prayer at this time. President Clinton and Hillary visited here in 1998. Right near the Synagogue is a Jewish Museum which was very interesting and contains artifacts from the Jewish ghetto. There, we did an online search for Ernie Heppner and discovered that he was 23 years old when he lived in Shanghai and that his address was 24/13 Chang Yang Lu. With the help of our guide, we were actually able to find his very small apartment and to see how very difficult his living must have been here. Our professor Eric then wanted to show us the HSBC (Hong Kong Bank Corporation (sp???) ) building which is a grand structure with a beautiful mosaic ceiling. This ceiling was completely covered with wood to hide it from the Red Guard and to protect it from being destroyed during the cultural revolution. Mao's idea - to get rid of the 4 Os: Old ideas, old thoughts, old customs and old habits. Eric did not speak highly of Chairman Mao. He hopes to travel to the US in the next few years but up until now, he was unable to get a tourist visa. The only visas that have been issued by the government have been student or business visas or visas to visit a family member in the US. In the evening, our guide recommended a "local" restaurant which she described as one of the best in Shanghai and it was located in Yuyuan Garden. We took a cab back there to give it a try and first to walk a little more through the market area there. When we were waiting for the Gellers and Newports in front of the restuarant, we saw large groups of tourists leaving and entering this restaurant and when we went inside to look at the menu, we saw that it was the same tourist menu that we have been eating for almost two weeks now. We hopped in a cab and returned to the hotel where we had pizza and pasta at the hotel's Italian restaurant. We had to admit that this food tasted really good along with the nice bottle of wine that we all shared. We leave for Guilin in the morning on China Express (flight #16) where we will be staying at the Sheraton Hotel (bed #17).