THERE'S MORE IN COMMON BETWEEN ANCIENT ISRAEL AND CHINA THAN YOU MAY KNOW
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
THERE'S MORE IN COMMON BETWEEN ANCIENT ISRAEL AND CHINA THAN YOU MAY KNOW
An exhibit featuring dozens of artifacts from various museums around Israel, China as well as the Yale Peabody Museum in the United States, to open in late October 2018.
BY ZACHARY KEYSER, Jerusalem Post, OCTOBER 15, 2018
Bible Lands Museum Gallery 311. (photo credit: Haim Zach)
Israel and China are growing ever closer, as business, diplomatic and tourism connections between the two modern states continue unabated.
But as a new exhibit shows, even in antiquity, China and the ancient Israelites shared a great deal.
“Bronze Age Mesopotamia and the Chengdu Plain,” opening October 22 at the Sichuan University Museum in Chengdu, China, compares the similarities of the two ancient civilizations, separated by more than 5,000 km.
The exhibit, the first ever joint cultural project involving antiquities from China and Israel, shows that while the two Bronze Age civilizations developed on opposite sides of the Asian continent, they had more commonalities than differences. Both Mesopotamia and the Chengdu Valley developed rich urban cultures that flourished near rivers, and came to control the smaller cities around them. Both constructed complex government and religious establishments, featuring royal temples and palaces.
Beyond creating common architectural feats and societal structures, both civilizations developed forms of writing to communicate with and control their territories.
The exhibit features 15 ancient religious artifacts from the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem and dozens more from various museums around China as well as from Yale University's Peabody Museum. The unique assemblage – dating from between 3300 and 1200 BCE – includes cuneiform tablets, cylinder seals and a statuette made of lapis lazuli from Afghanistan.
According to the Bible Lands Museum, by fostering a dialogue between different cultures and religions of ancient Asia, the exhibit also forges links of cultural cooperation between contemporary Israel and China.
“The BLMJ is a universal center of education and culture, and we are excited to take part in the first international exhibition dedicated to ancient civilizations in the Sichuan University Museum,” said the Bible Lands Museum in a press release.
The exhibit will remain open for six months.
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We lived in Chengdu a couple of years ago. As it is only around an hour away from Chongqing where we live now by means of the super-fast train, I absolutely intend to visit that exhibition - it has more in common for me than for anyone around here.
I hope that China and Israel develop a very close diplomatic and commercial relationship - which has already started to grow. China has not long ago relied on Israeli experts for counter-terrorism training.
Many other countries do as well. Unfortunately, the Israelis were forced by circumstances to learn the best ways of dealing with it. (Some of these countries won't admit it publically...as they are afraid that it would provoke attacks by fubdamentalist crazies...
It was the Israeli know-how that has been used for airline safety, such as cockpit security and passenger checking, ever since 9/11. I would feel safer flying on El Al than any other airline.
Israeli holy sites draw record number of Chinese tourists
World Israel News, October 14, 2018
While Israeli tourism in general is at an all-time high, a portion of this trend can be attributed to Chinese visitors, whose numbers have more than than doubled since 2015, with around 114,000 people from China traveling to Israel last year alone.
From what I've heard, many Chinese are fascinated with Israel and the incredible things they've accomplished.
This article mentions Israel and China having much in common. But I have discovered that in many ways Jewish culture and values have some striking similarities with those of the Chinese.
For example. respect for tradition. And there has been a lot of respect for their "elders".. (because what has been learned throughout the centuries is passed down by the elders).
Also recently there's bee na trend amongst many Americans of bashing success-- some even consider it to be a bad thing and consider successful to be bad people--regardless of whether they are or not.
Traditional values of both the Chinese and the Jews have been to admire someone who works hard and succeeds ithough their hard work.
Family togetherness is another common feature, as is the joy of cooking and eating. Whenever a visitor arrives, the first question a Chinese host asks is "Have you eaten?"
There is no such thing as antisemitism in China. In fact Jews are admired, even revered by the Chinese because of their perceived intelligence, ability to be successful in business and for making money. In fact there are numerous books in Chinese about how to make money like a Jewish person, or how to be successful like a Jewish buisnessman. And believe me, they are NOT considered to be insulting, they are tributes.
While we were living in Zhengzhou, my wife and I were often invited to banquets because as a "low-eye" (foreigner) and a "yuo-tye" (Jew) it was a boon for my host for me to be his/her guest, and I was often placed in the "seat of honour" (at a big round table, the seat facing the door), or next to the host (the person paying for the whole banquet) when he/she would take that seat. I never had to pay for a meal at a banquet - it was considered an honour to pay for my wife and me.