Jewish Life Digital Edition November 2014 | Page 71

which five people died and thirty-eight others were injured. This was the first terrorist
attack in Beijing’s recent history. The East
Turkestan Islamic Movement claimed responsibility for the attack, on 24 November
2013, and warned of future similar attacks.
Beijing today has a population of 20
million people, and has been the capital
of China since the 13th century. On the
northern end of Tiananmen Square is the
entrance to the Forbidden City, which was
built in the 16th century as the palace of
China’s Ming Dynasty Emperors, and is
an impressive example of traditional Chinese architecture. It has splendid palaces
and vast courtyards, and was used as the
set for the film, “The Last Emperor”. It is
so called as it was forbidden to the Chinese masses until the onset of the revolution in the 20th century.
We visited the Beijing National Stadium,
officially the National Stadium, also known
as the Bird’s Nest. Opened March 2008, it is
a mega-structure which was designed for
use throughout the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics and has a capacity of
91 000 people. We also visited a silk factory
and were fascinated to witness the process
of silk being produced from the cocoons of
silkworms, and how ultimately, it produces
the most magnificent garments and linen.
We visited a traditional hospital practising
Chinese medicine, and after a free “medical
check-up”, we were presented with quotations for traditional Chinese medicine
which ran into many hundreds of dollars!
Few of us in the group went ahead with the
purchase! We were also treated to a traditional Chinese “Golden Mask Show”, which
showcased the incredible suppleness of the
Chinese, in what appears to be a fusion of
dance and gymnastics, with some breathtaking poses! A tour of a pearl factory, witnessing the extraction of pearls from oysters, and seeing the beautiful final products
in jewellery, was fascinating.
Throughout Beijing, we saw very few
traditional Chinese Hu tongs, the old
neighbourhoods with labyrinth-like narrow streets, as they have been replaced by
high-rise buildings and wide streets facilitating the phenomenal economic growth
of the city. At the Chabad House in Beijing,

the group enjoyed a wonderful meal at “Dini’s Restaurant”, which is run by Rabbi Shimon and Rebbetzen Dini Freundlich.
The next stop, Shanghai, which has a
population of around 18 000 000 people,
demonstrated even more sharply the tremendous economic growth of the Chinese
economy, with awe-inspiring architecture
and hundreds of modern high-rise residential apartments. It also boasts the
Shanghai World Financial Centre, which
currently has the highest observatory in
the world. Shanghai is China’s largest city,
and the world’s most densely-populated
metropolis, and the largest seaport on the
planet. Shanghai, with its favourable location on the Yangtze River near the East
China Sea, was given an official status in
year 751 and continues today to be a
thriving hub of commerce.
A fabulous Shabbat was spent in the
city at the Sephardi synagogue, run by the
eloquent Rabbi David Bitton, and the
group also visited the Chabad House, administered by Rabbi Shalom and Rebbetzen Dini Greenberg. We were taken on a
tour of the school and a luxurious mikvah
that resembles a modern spa, in their
beautiful three-storey residence, which
even boasts a vegetable garden on its roof
in order to teach the pupils how to grow
their own vegetables!
We visited the Refugee Museum in
Honkou, which is situated next to the Ohel
Moshe Synagogue of Shanghai, built in
1927. The museum acquaints one with the
history of the refuge given to the Jews in
Shanghai during World War II. Shanghai
was the only metropolis in the world at
that time that did not refuse Jews entry.
The city absorbed 25 000 refugees between
1937 and 1941, a similar amount of Jewish immigrants to Australia, New Zealand,
Canada, India and South Africa combined!
Measuring 600 kilometres, originally
built over 2 500 years ago, and the largest
construction project ever undertaken by
man, the Great Wall of China is the greatest wall in the world (with the exception of
the Kotel, of course, for the Jewish people,
also known as the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem), which can be seen from outer space,
and is truly one of the marvels of the

world. We were able to walk along a section
of the wall enabling us to get a sense of the
phenomenon, as it snakes through valleys
and over the surrounding mountains.
Finally, we witnessed another wonder of
the world, the immense Terracotta Army,
with life-sized uniformed men and horses,
built by the great Emperor Qin Shi Huang,
circa 210 BCE, the first Chinese Emperor,
who sought the protection of his soldiers
to protect him in his afterlife.
Our story of China would not be complete without mentioning the heroic Dr Ho
Feng Shan, the Chinese consul general in
Vienna from 1938 to 1940, who saved
thousands of Jewish lives by issuing visas
to travel to Shanghai, similar to that which
was done by the Japanese consul, Chiune
(Sempo) Sugihar