Jewish Civilization and Yiddish Education in China

Abstract

This talk explores the teaching of Jewish civilization and Yiddish in contemporary China through my experience at Peking University and Tsinghua University. I pioneered university-level Jewish civilization courses at leading Chinese institutions, including China’s first university-level Yiddish course. At Peking University, my course on Jewish civilization developed into a large interdisciplinary class attracting approximately 800 students per semester.

The first part of the presentation focuses on pedagogical innovation, introducing new approaches to teaching Jewish history, the Holocaust, antisemitism, global Jewish communities, and China–Jewish encounters. It will showcase creative student projects demonstrating how students explore Jewish civilization through art and technology. The second part examines the challenges of teaching Jewish topics in Beijing after October 7, 2023. Drawing on classroom discussions and survey data, I will discuss how Chinese Generation Z students understand Jews, Israel, antisemitism, and global conflicts in a rapidly changing information environment.

The talk offers a window into how a new generation of Chinese students engages with controversial historical and political issues, and how Jewish civilization is taught, discussed, and reinterpreted in contemporary China.

Biography

Dr. YANG Meng is Gerstein Distinguished Visiting Professor in Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto. She founded China’s most influential course on Jewish civilization and created the country’s first university-level Yiddish course. She is also a Fellow at the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. Her research focuses on global antisemitism, Holocaust education in China, China–Middle East–U.S. relations, Jewish exile in Shanghai, and Sino-Israeli innovation cooperation. Please feel free to be in touch: allshallpass@gmail.com