When East meets West, history doesn’t just cross borders—it weaves new legacies.More than a thousand years ago, a group of Jewish merchants from Persia followed the Silk Road deep into the heart of imperial China. There, these Jewish settlers built a life that defied expectations. They kept reading the Torah in Hebrew, kept a kosher diet, and celebrated Passover—all while adopting Chinese surnames, mastering Confucian texts, and passing the imperial exams to serve as Ming officials. For centuries, they stood at the cultural crossroads, living as Jews in a Confucian empire, preserving both tradition and adaptation in perfect balance.But in modern times, that delicate balance began to unravel—until, one day in 2016, five Chinese women appeared at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, praying in Hebrew with tears in their eyes. This is a story of two worlds, two civilizations, and one enduring faith—the untold journey of China’s lost Jews, and their path from Kaifeng to Jerusalem.
