Editor's Note: During the World War II, more than 30,000 Jews, under attack by the Nazis in Europe, fled to Shanghai, China and 16,000 of them took refugee in this city. Meanwhile, the local Shanghai people were also in an abyss of pain inflicted by the Japanese invasion.  Though the time was difficult, gratitude and mutual friendship lived on in the heart of the Jewish and Chinese people. The Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum and Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) launched a initiative early this year to present those touching stories in Chinese, English, German and Hebrew. This is one of the selected stories in the project to commemorate the history of Jews in Shanghai.

uring WWII, many local Shanghai citizens spared rooms for Jewish refugees. A couple, Mr. Quan Furong and Ms. Zhang Zhaodi, received six Jewish families in their house. The daily life of the Jewish lodgers was a reflection of their diligence and intelligence. They shared happiness and sorrows with their Shanghai host and neighbors through the hard times.

In 1942, the couple moved to Wayside Road in the Tilanqiao area, and there were not many Jewish people there at that time. In February 1943, however, the Japanese occupiers declared the Restricted Sector for Stateless Refugees, and forced Jewish refugees arriving in Shanghia after 1937 to move into the restricted area, the Ghetto. So there were more and more Jewish people there.

Their house had been designed and built by a British firm. It looked modern and western. They had two buildings next to each other. They lived in one of them and rented the other to six Jewish families: two couples, one middle aged woman, one young girl and one old woman. There were no kids; perhaps their kids had not been able to flee to Shanghai. Usually, they went to work early in the morning and came back late in the evening, and we nodded at each other when we met. Their food was simple, normally bread and potatoes sometimes with soup. Their utensils, however, were very beautiful. They used enameled dishes and stemmed glasses which they had brought from Europe. They cooked in a different way. Their dress was plain, just western shirts and jackets. After the Japanese surrendered in 1945, the Jewish lodgers did not leave right away. They stayed in Shanghai until 1949, and left behind them quite a few pieces of furniture, including a wooden barrel which is still usable.

In fact, all the furniture in the building had been made by Jewish carpenters, and they are solid and usable after more than 70 years. Mr. Quan’s father ordered the furniture at the carpenter shop just opposite their building at a price of 1,000 US dollars (which was a huge sum of money). The furniture included a chest of drawers, a big wardrobe, a bed, a table and four chairs, as well as two sofa chairs that the carpenter gave us free of charge. The patterns on the wardrobe are still clear and exquisite. The wood is strong. Everything except the bed is usable now.

Most Jewish people were hard-working and skillful like the carpenter. Mr. Quan had a clothing business, mainly making and selling ladies’ garments. When they needed accessories, like buttons, the Jews would offer them good supplies. For instance, the traditional Chinese buttons had been made of cloth, and there were no western buttons in Shanghai yet. Then, the Jewish supplier would cut wood into small pieces and saw them into buttons which were then painted to look beautiful. So a small button involved a long process, but they took the trouble. They could give us whatever color or shape we wanted and deliver them on schedule.

Among the Jewish refugees in Hongkou, there were some who were not employed, and they would hang a board in front of them or on their back indicating that they’re carpenters, painters or tilers waiting to be hired. Mr. Quan’s family once hired a Jew who was over 50 to paint their rooms. The Jewish painter worked very hard from morning till evening. He did not even take any break. Mr. Quan said he also had a Jewish friend who sold jewelries, and he visited him from time to time. He was surprised that his shop was very small and his family lived and worked there. Sometimes, he went there very early in the morning, but the Jewish jeweler had already started his work. The jeweler told Mr. Quan, “Whatever one does, the very most important thing is diligence and second credibility.” Another Jewish friend once said to Mr. Quan, “One will fare well wherever he goes so long as he is good at something.”