ed the Law, and handed
down the Sacred Writings. After his time, during the Han Dynasty (B.C. 206
to A.D. 221), this religion entered China. In (A.D.) 1164, a synagogue was
built at P'ien. In (A.D.) 1296, the old Temple was rebuilt, as a place in
which the Sacred Writings might be deposited with veneration."

[According to their oral tradition, the Jews came to China from _Si Yih_
(Western Regions), probably Persia, by Khorasan and Samarkand, during the
first century of our era, in the reign of the Emperor Ming-ti (A.D. 58-75)
of the Han Dynasty. They were at times confounded with the followers of
religions of India, _T'ien Chu kiao_, and very often with the Mohammedans
_Hwui-Hwui_ or _Hwui-tzu_; the common name of their religion was _Tiao kin
kiao_, "Extract Sinew Religion." However, three lapidary inscriptions,
kept at Kai-fung, give different dates for the arrival of the Jews in
China: one dated 1489 (2nd year Hung Che, Ming Dynasty) says that seventy
Jewish families arrived at P'ien liang (Kai-fung) at the time of the Sung
(A. D. 960-1278); one dated 1512 (7th year Cheng Teh) says that the Jewish
religion was introduced into China under the Han Dynasty (B.C. 206-A.D.
221), and the last one dated 1663 (2nd year K'ang-hi) says that this
religion was first preached in China under the Chau Dynasty (B.C.
1122-255); this will not bear discussion.

The synagogue, according to these inscriptions, was built in 1163, under
the Sung Emperor Hiao; under the Yuen, in 1279, the rabbi rebuilt the
ancient temple known as _Ts'ing Chen sse_, probably on the site of a
ruined mosque; the synagogue was rebuilt in 1421 during the reign of
Yung-lo; it was destroyed by an inundation of the Hwang-ho in 1642, and the
Jews began to rebuild it once more in 1653.

The first knowledge Europeans had of a colony of Jews at K'ai-fung fu, in
the Ho-nan province, was obtained through the Jesuit missionaries at
Peking, at the beginning of the 17th century; the celebrated Matteo Ricci
having received the visit of a young Jew, the Jesuits Aleni (1613), Gozani
(1704), Gaubil and Domenge who made in 1721 two plans of the synagogue,
visited Kai-fung and brought back some documents. In 1850, a mission of
enquiry was sent to that place by the _London Society for promoting
Christianity among the Jews_; the results of this mission were published
at Shang-hai, in 1851, by Bishop G. Smith of Hongkong; fac-similes of the
Hebrew manuscripts obtained at the synago