We know hundreds of Kaifeng Jews by name, but know little biographical details about any of them. We have no individual documents from any Jew of Kaifeng, like a letter or book beyond those that were produced for the synagogue. We know biographical details (in some detail) of two Jews: Ai Tien, who visited Matteo Ricci in 1605, and Zhao Yingcheng, who accomplished a great deal in Chinese society and left behind a biography, one extant writing, and many references. We will examine Ai Tien here, and Zhao Yingcheng later, and several lesser known Kaifeng Jews at other times.
We know of Ai Tien because in 1605 he entered Ricci's church thinking the western monotheists who arrived in Kaifeng in 1601 were Jews. His visit to Ricci gave the western and Jewish world their knowledge of Jews in China. What do we know about this man?
He tells Ricci a great deal about himself: he had neglected Hebrew studies to be a Confucian Scholar/Official. He is 60 years old, and hwis father had three sons, and two were in Kaifeng, and they knew Hebrew and were more aware of Judaism than he was; yet he tells Ricci stories from the bible in great detail. He tells Ricci that he is banned from events at the synagogue involving the rabbi, and was nearly excommunicated due to unnamed malfeasances as a Scholar-Official living away from Kaifeng. We will examine the source text from Ricci to see if the 2nd party documents leave out important information. He tells Ricci if he gets a higher degree, the rabbi will have no more influence over him.
Ricci's account needs to be checked. Evidence of Ai Tien's life are also found in synagogue books and inscriptions, and Gazette entries. Leslie, on page 172 of his The Chinese Memorial Book, writes that Ai Tien's Hebrew name may have been Shaphat. Ricci simply calls him Ai in his account, but the scholars Palliot and Chen Yuan identified him as Ai Tien, holder of the chu jen (juren) degree of 1573. This is known from several gazette entries from 1661 to 1898 (Leslie, 222). He took a teaching post at a school in Yangzhou. This is why he told Ricci there was once a large Jewish community in this city - but it was no more by 1605.
Yet another scholar, Chen Tseng-hui in 1949, found Ai Tien in the Yangzhou gazettes. There he is listed as a licentiate come to take a post as "school supervisor" from 1605-07, and was replaced in 1608. Leslie, and all scholars, now agree that the Ai who visited Ricci in Ai Tien. One of the issues with making this identification earlier is the supposed rift between the rabbi at Kaifeng and Ai Tien. Here is an undated inscription from the synagogue:
Here, Ai Tien makes a doctrinaire statement about Judaism, and its connection to the health of the Imperial Chinese state. His grandson then reinscribed this at some later date. Since that Ai who visited Ricci speaks of an estrangement with the synagogue, it was deemed impossible for the him to make the statements of Ai Tien in the shul. This theory ignores the practical and sometimes messy realities of communal life [!] The Ai clan was one of the three important Kaifeng Jewish families/clans.
Ai Tien does not feature in the synagogue inscriptions made after the Flood of 1642. This in itself makes sense: for, as Leslie says on page 224, the inscriptions mainly handle the events following the flood, and it Ai Tien was 60 in 1605, he was most likely dead by 1642. Ai Tien, although dead by the time the Memorial Book was complied, is not in the Ai clan pages, at least with a Chinese name.
From page 32 of the Memorial Book of the Dead, HUC 926, here is the entry in Hebrew that is most likely for Ai Tien (based on the work of both White and Leslie):
Ai Tien is relatively well documented for a Kaifeng Jew. He is mentioned in the Memorial Book, a synagogue inscription, Chinese gazettes, and Ricci's account. So, was Ai Tien Shafat, ben Rabbi Avryah? His father is a rabbi, as are two of his brothers, Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Mordecai. This is the family unit:
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