Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- A city of north-central China south-southwest of Beijing on the Yellow River. It was an important dynastic capital.
Etymologies
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Examples
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Most people don't know there are Jews in China or that they cluster in a city called Kaifeng at the end of what was once the Silk Road.
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By 3pm, all major roads to surrounding big cities in the province such as Kaifeng, Zhengzhou and Luoyang - as far as 600 kilometres away - were congested with people fleeing on foot, and on farming tractors and trucks.
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For much of the past millennium, Jews in Kaifeng— descendants of merchants who arrived here from Persia, probably around the 11th century—have been struggling with an existential question: What does it mean to be Jewish?
Chinese Jews Face Existential Questions Bob Davis 2011
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Kaifeng Jews trace their heritage through their father, as Chinese traditionally do, while orthodox Jews define Judaism as passing through the mother.
Chinese Jews Face Existential Questions Bob Davis 2011
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As the granddaughter of a Kaifeng Jew, she says the orthodox standard on Judaism is unfair: "We read the Torah with Eastern thoughts; deal with it."
Chinese Jews Face Existential Questions Bob Davis 2011
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After the Communists took over in 1949, Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping fretted that Kaifeng Jews might be subversive.
Chinese Jews Face Existential Questions Bob Davis 2011
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Shi Lei, one of the first Kaifeng Jews to study in Israel, blames Mr. Lerner for "creating factions" in the tiny community with his school, though Mr. Lerner says Mr. Shi misunderstands his efforts.
Chinese Jews Face Existential Questions Bob Davis 2011
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The first Jewish merchants arrived when Kaifeng was in its heyday as the Song dynasty capital.
Chinese Jews Face Existential Questions Bob Davis 2011
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"You could have tourists stay a night with local Jewish descendants to see what their lives are like," says Su Linzhong , a management professor at Kaifeng University.
Chinese Jews Face Existential Questions Bob Davis 2011
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Some of the city's notables none of whom are Jewish are looking to boost tourism by rebuilding the Kaifeng synagogue, but as a museum so as not to inflame the Chinese government.
Chinese Jews Face Existential Questions Bob Davis 2011
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