Shanghai and the Jews  There are signs of a Jewish presence in
China from about the 8th century on.  Jewish traders traveled
the Silk Route and some spent significant time in China.  Others
married and settled down there.  The synagogue in Kaifeng was
built in 1163 and from then on there was a Jewish community
there.  Sephardi Jews from Bagdad started arriving in Shanghai
at the end of the 19th century.  Among them were the Kadoorie
family, the Hardoon family, and the Sassoon family.  These
wealthy businessmen rose to the top of the Shanghai society of
the time and established communal institutions and built notable
buildings, among them the famous Cathay Hotel, now known as the
Peace Hotel.  It still stands with pride along with other
European styled buildings on the Bund, Shanghai’s waterfront on
the Huangpu River.  The Peace Hotel on the Bund, Shanghai  In
the beginning of the 1900s, Jews began arriving from Russia.
 The two groups of Jews did not mix, but all established schools
and newspapers and and res