Jewish Wayfarers in Modern China focuses on the many extraordinary contacts between East and West in China during the 20th century. Through a collection of short biographies situated in the context of Chinese and Western history, it offers a panoramic view of China as experienced by many different persons of Jewish origins during their sojourn in the Middle Kingdom. The book offers a journey across vast reaches of space and back through time. Our impressions of visits to China have often been biased by sensational journalism, Hollywood films and literary entertainment that have distorted the reality of this vast country. Jewish Wayfarers in Modern China offers the reality of life in twentieth century China through the carefully-researched biographies of a variety of typical and less typical Western visitors to the Middle Kingdom.

"Jews in China doesn't sound like an obvious topic at first blush but Messmer has compiled an extensive, admirable and fascinating collection of vignettes of a displaced people surviving and living through the most tumultuous time in China's history." -A. Tom Grunfeld, Empire State College "In the pages of this amazing and unique book men and women come alive who arrived in China for longer or shorter periods of time. Hailing from Europe and elsewhere, there were merchants and journalists, physicians and writers, adventurers and communists, and refugees from Nazi Germany. They witnessed one of the most turbulent periods in Chinese history, their lives forever affected by what they saw and experienced. In vivid portrayals the author masterfully allows us glimpses of such women as Emily Hahn and Ruth Weiss, or men like Harold Isaacs and Theodore White and how they viewed "their" China. Many like Willy Tonn regretfully left the China they had come to consider their own. Others like Israel Epstein and Sidney Shapiro remained in the country which they loved and where they felt they belonged. This is a superbly stimulating book." -Irene Eber, Louis Frieberg Professor of East Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Preface and AcknowledgmentsNames and OrthographyIntroduction: Individuals, Biographies and LifeworldsChapter 1. The Long Established: Jewish Old China HandsI. Descendants: Jews with Sephardi RootsII. Russian Jews Originating from the Czarist EmpireChapter 2. Jewish Travelers: Temporarily and Voluntarily in ChinaI. JournalistsII. Couriers, Emissaries and AdvisorsIII. Adventurers and Lone WolvesIV. DiplomatsV. Research Travelers and Travel AuthorsVI. PhysiciansVII. Independents and FreelancersChapter 3. Refugees Driven from Europe to the Far EastChapter 4. "Foreign Experts" and Supporters of Mao's RevolutionEndnotesBibliography