NOTE 3.—­This passage, and the extract from Ramusio’s version attached to the following chapter, contain the only allusions by Marco to Jews in China.  John of Monte Corvino alludes to them, and so does Marignolli, who speaks of having held disputations with them at Cambaluc; Ibn Batuta also speaks of them at Khansa or Hangchau.  Much has been written about the ancient settlement of Jews at Kaifungfu, in Honan.  One of the most interesting papers on the subject is in the Chinese Repository, vol. xx.  It gives the translation of a Chinese-Jewish Inscription, which in some respects forms a singular parallel to the celebrated Christian Inscription of Si-ngan fu, though it is of far more modern date (1511).  It exhibits, as that inscription does, the effect of Chinese temperament or language, in modifying or diluting doctrinal statements.  Here is a passage:  “With respect to the Israelitish religion, we find on inquiry that its first ancestor, Adam, came originally from India, and that during the (period of the) Chau State the Sacred Writings were already in existence.  The Sacred Writings, embodying Eternal Reason, consist of 53 sections.  The principles therein contained are very abstruse, and the Eternal Reason therein revealed is very mysterious, being treated with the same veneration as Heaven.  The founder of the religion is Abraham, who is considered the first teacher of it.  Then came Moses, who established 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.