By Masada Siegel, Special to JTNews
It was all Chinese to me, though with a touch of Hebrew. That’s because I was standing in what was once a Jewish ghetto — in Shanghai, China.
Today’s Shanghai is a modern metropolis that’s significantly different from when it was a refuge city for Jewish immigrants escaping World War II. A city under nonstop construction, where low buildings give way to skyscrapers, it’s a conundrum; pricey hotels are around the corner from tenement-style apartment houses communities with no bathrooms or kitchens. The energy is infectious, and while China is a Communist country, capitalism flows from every direction, from Shanghai Tang to TGI Friday’s. There is no escaping a myriad of places to spend money; even the markets overflow with pearls, jade and silk.
A city of epic proportions, population 20 million, Shanghai is currently hosting the 2010 World Expo. The Expo is a global event intended to promote the exchange of ideas and development in economy, culture, science and technology, as well as to improve international relations. It runs through October 31 and organizers estimate 70 million visitors will attend.
What was the Jewish ghetto in Shanghai during World War II is now distinguished only by the occasional marking of where a mezuzah once hung and Stars of David etched into doors.
Through the help of the Peninsula Hotel, I learned about a tour of Jewish Shanghai with Dvir Bar-Gal, an Israeli who has been living in China for years. Half the day was a tour of the Jewish areas, and the other was a view into modern Shanghai.
My group, comprised mostly of Jewish people from around the world — Canadians, Australians, South Africans and Israelis —found its way to Huoshan Park in the Hongkou District area, where tens of thousands of Jewish refugees lived between 1938 and 1945.
The park has a small plaque written in Hebrew, Chinese and English commemorating the suffering of the European Jewish refugees.
Across the street from where we sat, Bar-Gal pointed to a building where the worldwide Jewish relief organization the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee once operated.
“There are three reasons why Shanghai saved more Jews during World War II. The first is it was an open port city so people did not need a visa or passport to enter the city.” Bar-Gal said. “Second, righteous gentiles in Europe such as Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul in Lithuania, wrote thousands of exit visas, as well as Chinese consul general Dr. Ho Feng Shan, who also issued thousands of visas for Austrian Jews during 1938-1940 against the orders of the Chinese ambassador in Berlin. Finally, more Jews were saved in China because no other country around the world would let them in.”
The Israeli government awarded the honor of “Righteous Among the Nations” to Sugihara in 1985 and to Ho Feng Shan in 2001.
A short distance away, we walked into a small alley filled with crowded apartments, in what was once the ghetto. Small remnants of Judaism past remained: Nails on doors where mezuzahs once hung, or a Star of David designed into a metal door.
Seven synagogues were built in Shanghai. We visited the Ohel Moishe Synagogue, now known as the “Jewish Refugee Memorial Hall.” It is a small museum dedicated to the history of the Jewish experience in Shanghai.The only operational synagogue today is Beit Menachem, run by Chabad.
One of the premier hotels is the Peninsula, owned by the Kadoories, a family of real estate magnates. The Kadoorie family, long-time residents of Shanghai, built up the Jewish community and established important institutions such as the Shanghai Jewish Youth Association in 1937. They also established a Jewish day school and set up a fund, with the aid of another immigrant family, to help refugees escaping Europe set up businesses and become self-sufficient.
The Peninsula’s hotel rooms today are opulent and luxurious, and the staff provides first-class service in every sense of the word. The subtle elegance is inviting and warm, and having tea in the lobby is a real treat, not to mention the live music that accentuates the magnificent food.
Until World War II, Shanghai was divided into three different sections known as concessions: Chinese, British and French. The former French Concession is today filled with restored colonial-era buildings, gardens and shops. It’s a relaxing place to wander, shop for souvenirs, custom-tailored clothing, or sit in a little café for a cup of tea.
Xintiandi, one of the French Concession’s trendy, happening areas, has been renovated and features Shanghai’s stone-gate homes, shops, bars and restaurants. Ironically, one of Xintiandi’s must-see places is the meetinghouse-turned-museum where the Communist Party of China was founded in 1920. It had a feel of China meets Rodeo Drive.
Later in the day we headed toward the Bund, a curving riverside boulevard lined with marble- and granite-clad buildings built in the 1840s. The most beautiful structures were built in the early 1900s, with the river port on one side and the old foreign concessions on the other. Foreign magnates spared no expense and imported Italian marble, Oregon pine, and British bronze work. The buildings were used as banks, private clubs and hotels.
One of the must-see buildings is the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, formerly known as the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. Stepping inside, you are transported to Italy, with shiny marble mosaic floors, an airy octagonal rotunda, and eight allegorical wall murals from the 1920s representative of the world financial centers, such as Tokyo, New York and London.
One of Shanghai’s most prominent pedestrian streets is Nanjing Road, and it will leave you wondering if you are really in China, and not Europe. It is an enormous bustling boulevard: Video screens flashing with advertising and alive with a mix of locals and tourists wandering as well as shopping. If you want to go off the beaten path, walk behind the road, and another slice of China awaits you, with small stores selling everything from mannequins to doorknobs. Motorcycles galore litter the streets and people pedaling on bikes pull supplies from one area to the next.
While Shanghai’s Jewish history is intriguing, its present is propelling rapidly into the future. Yet even traveling solo, I managed to find my place and my people.
Masada Siegel can be reached at fungirlcorrespondent@gmail.com.