By 1903 a self-administered Jewish community existed in Harbin, numbering 500 Jews. After the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, many demobilized Jewish soldiers settled in Harbin, followed by refugees from the 1905–07 pogroms. By 1908 there were 8,000 Jews in the city, and a central synagogue was built in 1909.

According to estimates, over 20,000 Jews lived in Harbin and played a key role in the shaping of local politics, economy and international trade. [ 60 ] Soviet Russian Jew Grigori Voitinsky played an important role in the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party …

The good living conditions of the Jews in Harbin quickly changed when the Japanese took control of Manchuria and establishment of a puppet regime, which allowed Jews to be subjected to terror and extortion. When World War II began, Jews in Harbin became even more oppressed and anti-Semitic politics were put in place.

2024年12月24日 · In addition to refugees who supported the monarchy of Imperial Russia, Harbin was also the only place where Russian-language Zionist groups could operate due to the 1920 Soviet ban on Zionism (Vladimirsky, “The Jews of Harbin, China”). By 1930, the Jewish population of Harbin reached its peak at around 15,000 people, but some sources would ...

2022年1月13日 · The Jewish community of Harbin was instrumental in establishing local industries and growing trade relations between China and Russia, Europe, Japan, and the US. Jews owned and operated restaurants, lumber mills, coal mines, banks, metalworks, breweries, and candy shops in Harbin.

Twelve Russian-language Jewish periodicals were published in Harbin, including Evreiskaya Zhizn’ (Jewish life) and Gadegel (the Cyrillic rendition of the Hebrew “ha-degel,” literally meaning “the flag” and having specific reference to the blue-and-white Zionist flag).

Born out of a free-will business adventure and voluntary resettlement from Russia, the Jewish community of Harbin wrote a unique chapter in the history of the Diaspora. Starting with the settlement of the first Jewish family at the end of the 19th century, Harbin’s Jews arrived at a particularly fortunate moment in time.

In Harbin, many cultural relics have been luckily retained, such as the Jewish Community, Harbin New Synagogue, Harbin Jewish History and Culture Exhibition and Huangshan Jewish Cemetery.

Escaping political and religious persecution in Europe, many Jews immigrated and settled in Harbin, the northeasternmost Chinese provincial capital of Hei longjiang. Most of them came from Russia, fleeing pogrom, and lived in Harbin for decades during which they played an important role in local development.

2023年8月11日 · This chapter on Harbin deals with the first city Jews settled in substantial numbers in modern China. Mostly émigrés from Russia, these Jews prospered during the first decades of the twentieth century as Harbin became a main hub for the Trans-Siberian Railway.