Shanghai Sanctuary: Chinese and Japanese Policy toward European Jewish Refugees during World War II by Gao Bei (review)

In Shanghai Sanctuary, Gao narrates the pragmatic approaches of Chinese and Japanese military and diplomatic officials toward the Jews of China. She argues that the presence of European Jewish refugees in Shanghai complicated diplomatic relationships between China, Japan, Germany, and the United States during the 1930s and World War II (3–4). Her analysis concerns Chinese and Japanese individuals’ vested interests in the Jews of China, particularly their attempt to exploit the extensive financial and diplomatic ties of Shanghai’s Baghdadi Jewish community with the United States to advance the military and economic welfare of their respective nations. Gao investigates and compares the processes of Chinese and Japanese policy toward the Jews against the backdrop of rising nationalism, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and World War II.

Gao uses her focus on the Jews to uncover disconnections between the Chinese and Japanese authorities in their struggle for power in China. First, she provides a succinct but excellent account of divergent Chinese and Japanese encounters with, and perspectives on, the Jewish people during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Second, she analyzes the development of policymaking in China and Japan regarding the established Jewish community in Shanghai throughout the 1930s. Finally, she re-examines the history of Japanese occupation of Shanghai constructed by previous scholars, identifying historical inaccuracies and offering fresh insights based on her analyses and new evidence.

This deep but concise study draws from compelling archival sources in China, Taiwan, and Japan that truly sets it apart from previous scholarship about the Jews of Shanghai. Gao’s engagement with Chinese archival sources in China and Taiwan explains how Zionism inspired the Chinese authorities to sympathize with Jews’ nationalistic quest in the face of their own problems with Western imperialism. Additionally, the sources expose the Chinese policymakers’ formulation of settlement plans for Jews in China to strengthen national economic and military interests. They believed that these Jews’ connections with influential American Jews would encourage the American government to aid China.

The integration of Chinese and Japanese primary and secondary sources also allows Gao to advance new information about the Chinese and Japanese interactions with Shanghai Jews. For example, Gao challenges the notion of Shanghai as an open port that did not require an entry visa. She found that the Chinese consulates across Europe encountered nearly 500 European Jews per month requesting entry visas. Diplomats issued them on the order of the national government. The Chinese government saw this action as a way to maintain its sense of control while facing the Japanese invasion at home. Meanwhile, the Japanese began restricting Jewish immigration to Shanghai for those without entry visas, though many Jews had them. Refugees arrived nonetheless because of their Chinese visas. Jews with Chinese entry visas could remain in Shanghai but not in the Japanese occupied areas.

Gao utilizes materials from the South Manchurian Railway (smr) and the Office of Army and Navy to highlight the Japanese investment in solving the “Jewish Question.” The smr, home to Japan’s premier economic-research institutes, provided “Jewish experts” in the military with data. Its research revealed the expanse of international Jewish networks—including those in Washington. Gao claims, however, that when relations between Japan and the United States deteriorated, the Jews of Shanghai lost their importance and became a burden to the authorities.