This is a model of the Kaifeng synagogue, which the Chinese Jews established in the 1160s. It is quite unlike any synagogue that I’ve ever seen!

Sketch of the exterior.

Sketch of the interior.

Portrait.

‘Kaifen Jews reading Torah: Three persons took part in this ceremony. The reader wore robes prescribed for dress occasions, and had a cloth wound round his cap to simulate a turban, and hanging down behind like that of the Mohammedan use of today. Chair of Moses, on which a Kaifen Torah Scroll is placed: The Chair of Moses was doubtless a chair similar to the above, either higher than usual or raised on a platform to a suitable height.’

Fun fact: they called this a qīngzhēnsì, which today is usually the word for mosque! In fact, it was common for Chinese gentiles to mistake local Jews for Muslims, and the more circumspect observers referred to Judaists as lánmào huihui, which literally means ‘Muslims with blue caps’!