From amazing stories of Shanghai Jewish history to bustling Chinese street life

For one hundred years, from 1850s to 1950s, Jews made an important cultural impact on the economic and development of Shanghai. The Sephardic Jews came first to the city, from British ruled areas, like the Baghdad, Bombay and Hong Kong. Then came the Russians Jews fleeing programs of the 1880s and early 1900’s, and finally, European Jews, especially Central European Jews, escaping the Nazi persecution in the 1930ies. In the decade prior to World War II, Shanghai was one of the few cities in the world generously accepting immigrants without passports and visas. “The designated area for Jewish refugees” was an area of approximately one square mile in the Hongkou district and became the last place for refuge for many Jews from Germany, Austria, Poland and Hungary, resulting in around over 25,000 Jews relocating to Shanghai during the war years.

Packed with tens of thousands of Chinese residents already, along with other immigrants including Indian Sikhs, Hongkou was a dense melting pot pulsating with life, which gives the neighborhood its diverse character until today.

For Jewish History tours we work together with Israeli photojournalist Dvir Bar-Gal, initiator of the “Jewish Memorial Project for Shanghai”.