CHINESE SILVER-MAKING HAS JEWISH ROOTS

Ongoing research at the Chinese Silver Research Centre [CSRI] at Tsinghua University, Beijing is furthering its focus on the Jewish merchants and actual silversmiths from Sassania [modern day Iran] who plied the Silk Road for centuries, introducing the art of silver-making to China. Chinese silver retained a definitive “persian” influence until the Sung Dynasty. Silver then acquired a “Chinese Style” and this coincides with the settling of a significant number of Sassanian Jews in Kaifeng fu.

Many of these Jews became assimilated Chinese through inter-marriage that was both allowed and encouraged by the Sung. 21 Chinese family names that exist today can trace their roots to Kaifeng fu; at least one Chinese Jewish silversmith still operates a workshop in Kaifeng fu today.

https://chinese-export-silver.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Chinese-silver-making-has-Jewish-roots.pdf

© 2015, Adrien von Ferscht. All rights reserved.