I thought I’d share with you an article that was published a few weeks ago in Asian Jewish Life called Chosen Women Choosing Chinese Men: A tradition of love?
Back in February of this year, I wondered if Jewish women really were more likely to marry Chinese men. That got the attention of Asian Jewish Life, who agreed to let me explore the connection in depth through a longer article (thank you, Erica!). The piece also includes the voices of several prominent Jewish women who have loved Chinese men — Anna Sophie Loewenberg of Sexy Beijing, Rachel DeWoskin, and Susan Blumberg-Kason.
I delayed sharing this article to first request a few minor corrections in the online version, but became so busy this month that posting it here on the blog just slipped my mind. Actually, it’s probably a lucky omission since I am currently knee-deep in helping with last-minute checks on my husband’s psychology internship applications and had NO idea what I was going to put on the blog today. (Whew!)
Here’s the crux of the piece:
As a Western woman married to a Chinese man, I knew I was a minority when compared to the ubiquitous couples of Western men and Chinese women around the world. But all of a sudden, I wondered if I also was a minority within the world of Western wives and Chinese husbands. Was Arnold right? Do more Jewish women really love Chinese men? Could there be any truth to this? Was there a connection?
Even before I raced home to google “Jewish women” and “Chinese men,” I realized it wasn’t the first time I’d heard the words “Jewish” and “Chinese” put together. When I first visited Kaifeng, China in 1999, I learned about the city’s Sephardic Jewish community, which lasted over 700 years. Later, when I lived in Shanghai, I read a magazine article about the Jews of Shanghai, who found refuge there in the 1930s during the Holocaust.
As I scoured the Internet and the library, I found more evidence that Chinese and Chosen wasn’t just in Arnold’s head….
Read the full article online. And if you love it, pass it on. Thanks!
Pretty neat article 🙂 To be honest, so far I had no luck in being with Chinese guys, although now I believe that I might be better off with them than with South Koreans, unless the South Koreans happened to be atheist or not take Christianity seriously. I read somewhere that Jews and Chinese share a history that’s worth over 5,000 years old.
I think that for me, I wouldn’t have to worry about grossing a guy out with the foods I tend like (I love liver for one, cow tongue, etc.) and holidays will be neutral, the Chinese guy might have common background when it comes to Communism, and family is the most important thing to me in life and so on.
Still thanks for posting this article 🙂
Thank you for this article. I had never thought about this connection. My mother used to have a Jewish business partner in Melbourne Australia. Post World War II, many Jewish immigrants (including her business partner and her family) were able to escape the holocaust via Shanghai. We never knew the reason for the Shanghai connection until recently when I learnt about the role of Dr Fengshan Ho (何鳳山), a Chinese/Taiwanese diplomat to Vienna and Germany between 1937 and 1938 who issued 1,200 visas Jews: despite being told not to by his Ambassador http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/ho.html
I’m Chinese and I’m an atheist ha ha ha lol 🙂 . It’s true :). Well, I visit the temple sometimes just to pray. Majority of Chinese men are very family oriented just like me so family values are very important to us. Chinese men like me are looking for marriage material women. I know a close Chinese friend and he is extremely successful with his career. He has his own agency and has 7 employees but he is still single because it’s difficult to find a woman who doesn’t look at his success. That’s what he complains to me about.Well, let me explain a little bit here. We want a woman who will stay even we lost our fortune, business, and money . Even we have a lot of money, we still look for that characteristic in a woman. I’ve found my wife so can you :)! You know life is not perfect and we can lose our jobs, businesses and health any day. Family value is on top of our list and we don’t want someone to say ” I DO” today and get a divorce 2 months later . I know I like to joke around but all jokes aside, we Chinese men know what we want . We want something solid and concrete ( stabled). I love it !!!
Bruce 🙂
you do look jewish for the most part like natalie portman. dark eyes and dark hair.
It is interesting that the Chinese and Jewish people seem to have an affinity of sorts. I have heard people call the Chinese the Jews of the East in a derogatory way, but do I detect a hint of envy here? Who cares. Now I better go find myself a Jewish woman. BTW, I too thought that you were Jewish, Jocelyn, from your name.
I think in my encounters with Western women-Chinese men couples, not a lot but a fair number of them were Jewish. Though most of the time, I wouldn’t have known without them mentioning it. That’s the situation with my cousin. I really didn’t know his wife was Jewish without looking at the wedding photos, with all those religious items they had. They didn’t obsess that much over religion though, so he wasn’t pressed to convert or anything like that.
Jews and Chinese have work ethics and family values that are similar to each other.
The Chinese were called the Jews of the East in a series of articles written by Thailand’s King Rama VI between 1910-1925 to denounce the Chinese due to their economic dominance of Thailand’s economy. In 1938 a Thai writer named Luang Wichit compared the Chinese in Thailand to the Jews in Germany and implied that Hitler’s treatment of the Jews was worth emulating in regards to the Chinese in Thailand. Well, when you’re on top, people are envious and they start coming at you. But as a Chinese, I would consider this as a compliment.
I think love is universal, it doesn’t know any color, race and religion. This is what is wonderful about LOVE.
Vietnam ( mainly south VN) , Indonesia, Malaysia have had similar situation not to mention Singapore also . Chinese were dominating the economies there and those natives didn’t like it. Chinese are the minority in those countries though. Vietnam tried to kick Chinese out and there was a violent riot in Indonesia . Chinese don’t have special treatments like the natives in Malaysia. If you are Chinese and want to buy a house in Malaysia , you have no incentives ( only for natives). MAJORITY of Chinese focus on education, family values and our kids’ future. Of course, we have 1.3 billions Chinese and most Chinese can’t keep up with raising living standard. Most western men claim that it’s easy to pick up Chinese women in China. Let me tell you something! If you can’t even make a decent living and w/o other options you will go will any men. Do you think most Americans like Jewish people in America? They control the media, banks, mortgages and they have a lot of influence in Congress.
Bruce
Wow, I’ve only ever seen one Western woman with a Chinese boyfriend – I don’t know if she was jewish. Western men with Chinese girlfriends are much more common!
Coincidentally, I do have a Jewish-American aunt.
Wow bruce. As a matter of fact lots of people do like jewish. My wife first met a jewish man when she was having our first child. He was the emergency room doctor and he worked for hours to be sure that our baby was born healthy. Jewish people, like chinese people value family and education.
Chuck,
It’s a love, hate relationship. I’m generalizing here. It doesn’t matter if you’re Jewish or Chinese. If you’re a minority in any countries and you dominate the ecomony ( money), you have great influence in society. Other people will try to bring you down. Of course , any persons will be attracted to you if you value family and education..
it used to be that Chinese, and Jews were both cheap, but that isnt true anymore in this facked up society. we’ve all become materialistic
Refer to my post under “Are Jewish Women more likely to marry Chainese Men?” regarding conversations I have with the Swiss Jewish owners of a bakery. They seem more grounded and down to earth. I guess that is why most Jewish and Chinese/Asian men and women seem comfortable in their own shoes. Humbleness helps- arrogance aggrieves.
@Jocelyn- where can I find a dating site for Jewish women and Asian men. More specifically cougar dating?? Also being in Melbourne Australia best places to meet Jewish women??
Once again, interesting article to read 🙂
I am one of these chinese guy who would love to have a jewish girlfriend/partner. I think jewish people are fascinating, you are proud of your ancestry and keeping the tradition alive. plus you people are good looking! too bad it remains distant dream to me since there are rarely jewish people in Indonesia 😉