“Little Vienna” - Shanghai’s Jewish Ghetto

It might seem strange to picture a Jewish community in Asia but, surprisingly, one has existed since 800 A.D. in the ancient capital of the “Middle Empire”. The community was definitively confirmed in the 1600s by the celebrated Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci. In Shanghai in the 1900s, during one of the darkest periods of history, Jews were welcomed. In fact, the port of Shanghai was one of the only places on Earth which allowed entry without a visa or passport. This sense of openness contributed to the extraordinary growth and cultural vivacity of the Pearl of the Orient. The Jewish community (composed of both Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews from every corner of Europe and the United States) were behind numerous projects of the urban development of the city, particularly one neighbourhood, featuring buildings and architecture typical of the “Middle-European” style. In this odd corner of town, the Ohel Rachel Synagogue on Shaanxi North Road is still the most important building still standing. Built in 1920 and under use until 1952, it was restored in 2010 and is still an active hub of the community. It is one of the first of seven synagogues built in Shanghai, and one of only two that still actually exist - the other, Ohel Moishe Synagogue is in the Hong Kou District. On the Fenyang Road, just south of Huai Hat Road, is the Shanghai Jewish Club, now a music conservatory. Strolling through the Hong Kou District along the tiny old streets of the ghetto you can still see the tiny dwellings, where Chinese families and Jewish refugees lived side by side and shared important moments in their lives as well as of world history.