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.

fter they arrived in Shanghai, the Jewish refugees had made attempts to change the art landscape in Shanghai. One of the results was the growth and improvement of puppet plays in Shanghai. The Jews put on show a number of classic plays like William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and the complete play of Carmen and Faust. Puppet play later became a means of living for the Jewish refugees.

A newspaper article mentioned the revival of puppet plays and asserted that it was attributed to the Jewish artists. In detail, the articles described the performance of puppet plays in Hongkou by the Jews who had been known for their artistic inclination. They said it was a revival because puppet shows had been popular in Shanghai with a special appeal to kids. Before the Jews, local Chinese artists in Shanghai had performed a number of puppet plays based on traditional Chinese opera, but the art had gradually declined in Shanghai as the performers had to made their living by other means while puppet play was only their part-time job. As puppet performances went down, the plays had also gone out of people’s mind.

After they arrived in Shanghai, the Jewish refugees picked up the art again and made a lot of adaptations. To a large extent, the rival of puppet shows was driven by the Jewish artists. Later, puppet play became one of their means of living. The US Army Club near Jing An Temple used to house one of the most popular puppet play Jewish performer who was known by his Chinese name Gao Tianlun. He was a great hit for his play The Puppet Paradise and later he also performed puppet plays for the Jewish refugees in the Ghetto in Hongkou. CZC had tried to promote his plays widely, attempting to turn his performance into a lasting business. It was unfortunate that the company went broke not very long later and Gao Tianlun also disappeared.

After the disappearance of Gao Tianlun, some other Jewish puppet performers, most of whom lived in Hongkou, adapted Shakespearean plays and other classics like Carmen and Faust and performed them at coffee shops and clubs run by Jews. At first, they just wanted to have a try, but they were rewarded with huge applauses by the Jewish refugees there. Then, the art of puppet play revived in Hongkou. As most Jewish refugees in the Ghetto were German or Austrian, the puppets spoke German. In this sense, puppet performance was not merely a means of living, but also a means of communication between Jewish compatriots. It is also an evidence of the artistic talent of Jews.