Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
Israelis find China friendly and very open
By Geng Xuepeng, He Yufei, Zhu Lei |
October 19, 2009, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
HOLDING an old but well-kept passport, Tel Aviv resident Nina Admoni recalled her childhood more than 60 years to World War II in Shanghai.
"I remember playing badminton on the terrace of my friend's home in Shanghai, feeling safe," the woman in her 70s said.
The passport, with a black-white photo of a little girl in it, suggested how the Polish family of Jewish refugees came to Shanghai in 1941.
"In Shanghai, my family lived first at the French Concession and then were sent by the Japanese to Hongkew (today known as Hongkou District) in late 1943," said Admoni.
Shanghai accommodated about 30,000 Jewish refugees from the Nazi holocaust in World War II, and thousands fled to other countries via Shanghai.
At that time, the Japanese occupiers in Shanghai restricted the Jewish refugees' residences to the Hongkou District.
Having witnessed the horror in Warsaw, Admoni felt that everyone around was friendly to her and her family in Shanghai, except that her engineer father was banned by the Japanese occupiers from working.
After spending seven years in Shanghai, Admoni's family moved to the United States, where she met her husband, and they later emigrated to Israel.
In 1992, Admoni revisited Shanghai together with her husband, where she tried to search her old street and house.
Armed with a 50-year-old city map and a new one, she finally, and to her surprise, found the small room where she lived for nearly four years.
Externally, the house was little changed but the interior had been renovated.
Shanghai, as Admoni said, placed an indelible stamp of China on her personal history. To this day she is still grateful for her years in the Shanghai Jewish School which enabled her to advance.
Four years ago Admoni retired from a high-level position in an Israeli chamber of commerce and now works as a business consultant.
In recent years she has dedicated considerable effort to establishing and promoting business ties between Israel and China.
Admoni is not the only one who has discovered a friendly China.
"I used to have a very shallow concept of China before I visited for the first time in 2008, said Micha Kinsbruner, a film director who lives in Tel Aviv.
"But when I arrived in Beijing, I was amazed to find how international the city is," he said. One of his films was an official selection for the International Short Film Festival at the Beijing Film Academy last November.
He said he was impressed by Chinese people's friendliness toward foreigners and their respect for other cultures.
After returning to Israel, Kinsbruner has been working on a film about Chinese people working and living in Israel.
(The authors are Xinhua writers.)
"I remember playing badminton on the terrace of my friend's home in Shanghai, feeling safe," the woman in her 70s said.
The passport, with a black-white photo of a little girl in it, suggested how the Polish family of Jewish refugees came to Shanghai in 1941.
"In Shanghai, my family lived first at the French Concession and then were sent by the Japanese to Hongkew (today known as Hongkou District) in late 1943," said Admoni.
Shanghai accommodated about 30,000 Jewish refugees from the Nazi holocaust in World War II, and thousands fled to other countries via Shanghai.
At that time, the Japanese occupiers in Shanghai restricted the Jewish refugees' residences to the Hongkou District.
Having witnessed the horror in Warsaw, Admoni felt that everyone around was friendly to her and her family in Shanghai, except that her engineer father was banned by the Japanese occupiers from working.
After spending seven years in Shanghai, Admoni's family moved to the United States, where she met her husband, and they later emigrated to Israel.
In 1992, Admoni revisited Shanghai together with her husband, where she tried to search her old street and house.
Armed with a 50-year-old city map and a new one, she finally, and to her surprise, found the small room where she lived for nearly four years.
Externally, the house was little changed but the interior had been renovated.
Shanghai, as Admoni said, placed an indelible stamp of China on her personal history. To this day she is still grateful for her years in the Shanghai Jewish School which enabled her to advance.
Four years ago Admoni retired from a high-level position in an Israeli chamber of commerce and now works as a business consultant.
In recent years she has dedicated considerable effort to establishing and promoting business ties between Israel and China.
Admoni is not the only one who has discovered a friendly China.
"I used to have a very shallow concept of China before I visited for the first time in 2008, said Micha Kinsbruner, a film director who lives in Tel Aviv.
"But when I arrived in Beijing, I was amazed to find how international the city is," he said. One of his films was an official selection for the International Short Film Festival at the Beijing Film Academy last November.
He said he was impressed by Chinese people's friendliness toward foreigners and their respect for other cultures.
After returning to Israel, Kinsbruner has been working on a film about Chinese people working and living in Israel.
(The authors are Xinhua writers.)
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