The Jews of Shanghai March 2002 1 | 2 | 3 | NEXT Web editor's note: In March 2002, Dr. Frost's family grew by one: His son and daughter-in-law adopted a baby girl from China. In honor of this addition to the Frost family, this month's column focuses on the history of Jews in the Shanghai area of China. And, as always, the story begins with a postage stamp... In 1944 Shanghai, China, was occupied by Japan. The occupying force issued two stamps (China 9NI05-06) commemorating the "first anniversary of the return of the foreign concessions" (according to the Scott catalog description). These areas of Shanghai contained more than 18,000 Jews, most of whom were refugees from Nazi persecution. The International Settlement originated in 1842, when the Treaty of Nanking opened Shanghai and four other ports to Western trade. The Treaty granted Great Britain extraterritorial rights in their ports; these rights were subsequently extended to other Western nations. In Shanghai, two independent sectors developed --a French Settlement (or Concession) and the International Settlement of all the other nations. A census in 1936 showed that there were approximately 60,000 foreigners in the international settlements. The predominant groups were the Japanese (20,000), Russians (15,000), and British (9,000). There were also 4,000 Americans and 2,500 French. By contrast, there were 1.5 million Chinese nationals who lived in the international sectors and another 2-4 million Chinese living in the remainder of Shanghai. The Jews in Shanghai came from several nations over an extended period of time. A Sephardic community developed there as a result of migrations of Jews from Baghdad (via India), which extended from the latter half of the 19th century to World War I. This group of approximately 700 was led by the Sassoon family. The group included a number of prominent business families, but the majority were employees. An Ashkenazi community of primarily Russian Jews had settled in Shanghai as a result of four waves of migration. The first occurred in 1895-1904 and included ex-soldiers, political exiles, escapees from Siberian exile, and adventurers. The second wave resulted from the events prior to and including the Russian Revolution. The third wave occurred in 1932-34 and resulted from the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, which had been the destination of many earlier Jewish migrants (Harbin had 10,000 Jews in 1929). A fourth migration occurred in 1937-39. By the end of the 1930s there were more than 4,000 Russian Jews in Shanghai. The Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews each had their own synagogues. A Refuge for Jews 1 | 2 | 3 | NEXT © 2002, J-Stamps/Murray Frost. All Rights Reserved. froststamps@yahoo.com