After Rome destroyed the ancient Jewish state, the Jewish people scattered and fled and traveled all over the world. Yet in every country, Jews were ostracized, discriminated against, persecuted, and even murdered. It's like a rat crossing the street, everyone shouts and beats.
During World War II, Nazi Germany occupied almost all of Europe. After the Wannsee Conference, the Nazis adopted the "Final Solution" to Jews on a Europe-wide scale, known as "genocide." Instead of opposing this act against humanity, the inhabitants of Europe are contributing to the abuses and scrambling to report their Jewish neighbors. Throughout World War II, 6 million Jewish people died. Before that, the Jewish nation numbered only 15.5 million.
So why were Jews discriminated against, ostracized, and even murdered? The reasons for this are varied.
It has been argued that discrimination against Jews is primarily on religious grounds. In the eyes of Christians, the Jews killed Jesus and clinged to dogma and refused to recognize Jesus as the "Messiah" and "Savior." From time to time, Christians carried out massacres against Jews in order to avenge Jesus.
Others believe that Jews were persecuted because they were too rich. In Western Europe, Jews were restricted from serving as soldiers and were not allowed to farm. As a result, Jews often engaged in commerce, finance, and especially usury. Therefore, since ancient times, the Jews have been rich. People's persecution of Jews is based on hatred of the rich.
Since ancient times, Chinese and the Jews have had an indissoluble bond. With the opening of the Silk Road, some Jews traveled by land and sea to live and do business in China's interior and coastal cities. China is perhaps one of the few countries that has never waged an anti-Semitic campaign.
During the Song Dynasty, a group of Jews arrived in Middle-earth and settled in the prosperous Tokyo Bianliang, where they received courtesy from the Song Emperor.
The "Records of Song Shi Zhenzong" recorded: "In the first year of Xianping (998), the spring moon ... Xin, monk, you micro-ni and others have arrived in the seventh year since the Western Heavenly Dynasty. According to research, "you micro" means Levi, which refers to the Jews who came to Kaifeng.
At that time, these Jews came to China in the name of tribute, and were received by the emperor, the highest authority, and the emperor also agreed to live in Kaifeng with them in three chapters. As the Hongzhi stele reads, "Emperor: Return to me in the middle of summer, abide by the ancestral style, and leave a legacy of Bianliang." ”
From the Song to the Yuan, the relationship between the Jews and the Chinese was quite good, and they had always been at peace with each other. However, when the Mongols entered the Central Plains, the role played by the Jews began to become disgraceful.
Beginning in the Yuan Dynasty, there were more records about Chinese Jews. In the historical records of the Yuan Dynasty, the Jews were called Shuhu, Zhaohu, Zhuwu or Shuhuhui.
Unlike the Kaifeng Jews, these Jews were brought back from West Asia and Europe by the Mongol army. For example, Dunhuang, Ningxia, Kaifeng, Luoyang, Xi'an, Beijing, Nanjing, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Yangzhou, Guangzhou, Quanzhou and other places have some records or evidence of Jewish settlement.
The Yuan Dynasty approached the big clan with a small clan, and lived like thin ice. In order to weaken and divide the resistance of the people of all ethnic groups, especially the Han people, Kublai Khan adopted a policy of dividing and ruling from the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the first class was Mongols; The second class is the Seme, i.e. West Asian, Central Asian, and European; The third class is the Han people, including the Han people, Jurchens, Khitans, Bohai people, and Gaoli people under the rule of the former Jin Dynasty; The fourth class is the Nan people, who are Han immigrants during the original Southern Song Dynasty.
These four groups have different provisions on legal status, political treatment and economic burden. And the Jews are among the people of the Seme.
Since Jews, like Muslims, do not eat pork, they look very similar. Therefore, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty considered Jews to be a kind of Muslim. For this reason, the Jews are called Shuhu Huihui.
As a result, Jews had extremely high privileges relative to other peoples, such as lower tax rates.
The "Yuanshi Yuanwenzong Chronicle" records that in March of the second year of the Yuanwenzong Tianli (1329 AD), he decreed that "monks, Taoists, Yeli Kewen, shu fu, and those who have lost their answers and become merchants still pay taxes." Because the Yuan Dynasty was established at a low tax rate, one hundred taxes were implemented, and later gradually increased, implementing fifty taxes one and thirty taxes one. The edict allowed Jews to pay taxes under the old system, meaning that they paid much less tax than others under the same conditions, had an advantage in the commercial field, and combined with their mercantilist tradition. They have an important position in China's business sector.
So Jews in China, like Jews in the rest of the world, are quite rich. Therefore, Jews, who were good at managing money, were often sent by the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty to collect taxes in various places.
Not only that, but Jews also had military privileges. As recorded in the "Yuan History": "In the fourteenth year of Zhizheng, those who returned from various places and became rich went to Beijing to join the army.
The Yuan Dynasty had a hierarchy in terms of nationality and also a hierarchy in the military. It is mainly divided into the Mongol army of the Mongols and the Tanma Chi army of the Semu people. After entering the Central Plains, the Han army formed by the Han people in the north. After the destruction of the Southern Song Dynasty, a new annexed army formed by the Southern Song Dynasty. Compared to the latter two, the Mongol rulers were closer to the Machijun and considered them their own. The Yuan Dynasty allowed Jews to serve in Beijing, which shows its trust and importance to Jews.
Even more heinous, there are also differences between ethnic groups in the law. According to the laws of the Yuan Dynasty, if the Mongols and Semu beat the Han, the Han people were never allowed to fight back. If the Mongols and Semu killed and injured the Han people, they did not need to go to prison, but only burned and buried silver with compensation, which was simply unreasonable. In this regard, some people often argue that the proportion of Mongols and Semu people in China is too small, and with the ancient transportation conditions, Han civilians may not see a single Mongol in their lifetime, let alone be attacked by them for no reason.
But the business-savvy Jews, on the other hand, roamed all over China, using their political and legal privileges to do evil and do evil.
In 2007, Xuancheng, Anhui excavated, a tombstone from the Yuan Dynasty, whose owner was named Hu Song, but it was just a small history. However, his tombstone was written by Gao Qi, a university scholar at the time, and the content of the inscription is quite amazing.
According to the inscription, a group of tricks sneaked back into Ningguo Road and wandered around, numbering in the hundreds. Exploiting their political privileges, the gang robbed and beat Han people everywhere along the streets, and also robbed Han wives and daughters.
According to the inscription, it is: "After plundering wealth and animals and humiliating women, the people did not dare to refuse, and they were shocked." ”
The Jews acted so recklessly, but the officials along the road did not dare to care about it, and had to let it go. Who called the Jews a higher nation in the Yuan Dynasty? They don't want to get in trouble.
When the Jews arrived in Jing County, Dianshi Husong stood up and shouted angrily at the Jewish mob:
"Those who make words and do not repeat the beating, people's ears. Now I am the Son of Heaven, and the law of those who do. If you go well, do not offend our people, and pay each other with wine and rice, otherwise you will know the Farr. ”
In short, I am the official of the Son of Heaven, and I am the law here. If you do not infringe against my people, I will serve you wine and rice noodles, or I will let you know what the law is!"
After listening to Hu Song's words, the Jews who were inwardly instigated were actually intimidated. So they took Hu Song to give rice noodles, sneaked away from Jing County, and then went to plague other cities. We can imagine what miserable things would have happened to the local people if other cities did not have good officials like Hu Song who dared to be the masters of the people. Perhaps, as the inscription says: "There are several remnants of Gongxian County".
The wandering Jewish community can even destroy a county. Although the history books lack records, the author can be sure that incidents similar to the violence committed by this group of Jews everywhere may have occurred everywhere in China at that time; There must have been many ordinary people who were beaten, looted and even killed by the Mongols and Sermes for no reason, and had nowhere to redress their grievances.
The Jews followed the Mongols behind the fox and fake tiger power, fish and flesh, and ran amok for a hundred years. However, by the end of the Yuan, their good days were over.
In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty. After assuming the throne, he immediately launched the Northern Expedition, "expelling Hu Yu and restoring China", and finally reappeared in the Hantang River and Mountain. After basically unifying the whole country, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately ordered the abolition of the Yuan Dynasty's abuses, and the laws that discriminated against the Han people without reason were the first to be swept into the garbage heap of history.
For those Semu people who followed the Mongols behind their backs, Zhu Yuanzhang made clear regulations: all Semu people must wear Han clothes, speak Chinese, and are not allowed to marry each other. If the people marry each other, they will not only be punished with 80 military sticks, but also take the couple into slavery.
In other words, all color people, both men and women, could only marry Han Chinese, and ethnic differences were quickly eliminated. As a kind of Seme, Jews in China are also clearly assimilated.
It has to be said that Zhu Yuanzhang's policy is extremely effective. It quickly disappeared from Chinese history, and the Jews, who could not be assimilated by Europeans, soon turned into yellow-skinned, black-eyed Chinese. And this is the real reason for the rapid disappearance of Jews in China. The Chinese civilization is lenient, but sometimes harsh.
In Kaifeng, there are still a few Jews. Unlike the Caucasian Jews brought back by the Mongols, they had intermarried with Chinese since the Northern Song Dynasty, and the difference was no longer noticeable from the outside. As a result, the Jews were able to preserve their religious traditions and rituals.
After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, as Jews interacted with Chinese in various fields, the Jews of Kaifeng gradually gave up their efforts to maintain their national purity and independence
The system of internal marriage is intermarriage with Chinese. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Kaifeng Jewish community had developed to its heyday, with 73 surnames, more than 500 families, and a population of nearly 5,000. According to a study of the "Register" of seven surnames written by Kaifeng Jews in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, as well as a sample survey of Kaifeng Jews and their descendants, Jews married at least 40 women with foreign surnames, and of course married their daughters to Han, Hui, Manchu and other ethnic groups. The Kaifeng Jews finally broke the precept not to intermarry with pagans, "The genealogy tells us that almost 1/3 of the wives of Jewish families came from some non-Jewish family."
At this time, the Kaifeng Jewish community was truly assimilated, leaving only 7 surnames and 8 families. There are fewer than 150 members. Although they preserved the custom of not eating pork, they also stopped practicing Judaism.
It was not until the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Israel that the memory of the Jewish remnants of Kaifeng was awakened. Since Israel is a developed country, some Kaifeng Jews decided to "return to their homeland." In 2009, seven "Kaifeng Jews" immigrated to Israel. By 2016, 19 Kaifeng Jews had applied to immigrate to Israel.
Before leaving, they also expressed their "gratitude" in a thick Henan rural voice: "Thank you Chinese for taking care of our Jews for a thousand years." Until the end, there was no Jewish ethnic group in the ethnic minority genealogy in China.
Judging from the experience of Jews in China, much of their suffering is self-inflicted. As a diaspora people, Jews had many respectable qualities, such as an emphasis on education, family, and ethics. Today, 20 percent of Nobel Prize-winning scholars come from this small ethnic group.
However, some of the characteristics of Jews are also really disgusting. Without a homeland of their own and lacking political power, Jews had to be attached to power, to the powerful, and even to foreign races. Therefore, the Jews have always existed as powerful and alien white gloves. Only by attaching themselves to the powerful, foreigners, and other powerful people could the Jews ensure their survival and make a fortune.
And those in power are happy to use them, Jews are literate, good at managing money, greedy and a natural tax collector. Therefore, Jews often act as tax collectors, knocking on the bones of the common people and taking advantage of them. The reason why Eastern Europeans, such as Russians, Ukrainians, and Poles, hated Jews so much was because Jews, as tax collectors of the Mongol nobility, squeezed the last copper plate of the Eastern European people.
In the Yuan dynasty, Jews played the same role in China. Hence the horrific scene in the Husong inscription, in which the Jewish wandering group bullies men and women everywhere.
And when the masters of the Jews died and lost their backers, the Jews became the targets of murder and persecution. All the evil done by the Jews will be returned with intensification. Sometimes, in order to maintain their power, rulers would voluntarily give up their white gloves, the Jews, and let the people vent their anger. In this way, the anger of the population will not be poured out on them.
Today, although the Jews have been founded, their image as "dependents" has not changed. Today's Israel in Palestine and the Middle East is doing evil, killing and setting fires, and cleverly robbing people, in fact, in order to act as a-stirring stick for the United States in the Middle East, so that the United States can maintain its "oil + dollar" financial hegemony.
So what will happen to Israel? Perhaps no different from the Jews of the past. When the United States falls, how will Israel face the wrath of the entire Arab world? If in the future Jews are persecuted, expelled, and murdered again, it will be self-inflicted.
The Qin people have no time to mourn themselves and the descendants mourn, and the descendants mourn without learning about it, and also make the descendants mourn the descendants. Israel needs to reflect, and so do the Jews. Not all ethnic groups are as lenient as the Chinese nation. If the Israelis fall into the hands of the Arabs, it will not be as simple as assimilation.