Jewish Identities in East and Southeast Asia: Singapore, Manila, Taipei, Harbin, Shanghai, Rangoon, and Surabaya

Jonathan Goldstein’s Jewish Identities in East Asia is a tad pricey, so probably a trip to the college library is involved….

The Jewish communities of East and Southeast Asia display an impressive diversity. Jonathan Goldstein book focuses on transnational Jewish identity in seven of this area’s largest cities and trading emporia: Singapore, Manila, Taipei, Harbin, Shanghai, Rangoon, and Surabaya. What was the source of this enduring identity, which included strong elements of Russian, Chinese, Japanese, but also specifically Jewish culture? What had preserved the Jewish identity under such excruciating circumstances? The book covers the period 1750 up to the present and emphasizes five factors which influenced the formation of Jewish transnational identity in these places: memory, colonialism, regional nationalism, socialism, and Zionism.