Yair Lapid hosts a weekly television newsmagazine called “Ool’Pan Shi’Shi” (Friday’s Studio). This last Friday I watched a piece in Ool’Pan Shi’Shi about Israeli entrepreneur Avi Shaked who set out to establish a chain of coffee shops in Shanghai, China. You see, apparently the Chinese favour the traditional tea over coffee, and drink it only because it’s trendy and it symbolizes the West.
In any case, this Israeli brand, titled Citta Caffe, has currently only 3 branches in the entire country — while the competing Starbucks already has 350(!) branches in China. Yet, according to the reporter, the Chinese people see Citta as equal in dominance and relevance to Starbucks, a widespread notion that derives from the way the Chinese view the Israeli. As evident from the piece, Jewish people are considered in China to be intelligent and savvy in the business world. One could find books in Shanghai titled “How to make money like the Jews” and so forth.
What really caught my attention was one innocent quote… At the end, the reporter asked a young Chinese woman what she thinks of Israel and its people, and the woman responded that “the whole world is controlled by the Israeli people, but the whole world is made in China”
. This tongue-in-cheek answer, which may seem at first like an attempt at flattering, turned a red light in my mental dashboard.
Is this reputation true? We’re intelligent? We’re business savvy? Well, of course there are many intelligent Jews, and many who succeed in business, but there are just as many successful Americans, rich French, or savvy Chinese. See, it’s true that historical reasons drove a large percentage of the Jewish diaspora into the business world as they were forbidden to engage in many other professions, and it’s also true that the Israeli culture promotes its members to be daredevils and to claim their place in the world. I don’t think it’s a bad thing; on the contrary, I’m proud of my culture. But these characteristics cause our tiny country to be very “noisy”, from a global perspective, relative to its size — and this notion fosters hostility and envy by many.
When the Chinese revere Jewish people as smart and successful, it may be a sign of affection and respect on their part — yet I can’t help but to think how these very same stereotypes were so prevalent across Europe in the 1930’s.
June 2, 2008 at 5:09 pm
If Jews control the world, then I want to know why neither I nor any of my friends have received a memo about our secret meetings. Why are we left out of the loop? How can this be? But seriously, this kind of thinking, that Jews rule the world, is so illogical that it almost is not worth discussing, yet we have to face it because such thinking leads to death, torture and concentration camps. I don’t believe the Chinese concept of the Jew is typical of antiSemitism, yet it can easily transform into antiSemitism when the economy goes awry. Such is the plight of the Jews.
June 7, 2008 at 4:03 pm
I don’t think this statement was made in accordance with what seems to be the Author’s and the posters perceptions.
Jews don’t “control” the world. However, their relationship to its Creator will greatly affect its outcome.
June 7, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Yep, such is the plight of the Jews. The weight of the world is on their shoulders. So, give it to God, crown Him as King and REJOICE!
“Blessed is he who comes in the Name/Word of the Lord”
And He plans to do that through you! Lucky “stiff necks” 🙂
It’s okay, we can ALL be used for Blessing. I know because I’ve been a blessing to some; a devil’s advocate to others (which is the more difficult road toward blessing). I constantly ask to be used for blessing, rather than devil’s advocate, because it is so much more joyful!!! And I believe closer to God’s nature.
June 7, 2008 at 5:42 pm
If the Jewish people in their entirity are SO sucessful and controlling everything, then why are there so many POOR and oppressed Jews in Russia?
November 17, 2009 at 3:03 pm
I am partly Jewish and live in China. I have never heard Chinese people say that Jews rule the world, and I doubt many of them think so. They do have the stereotype of Jews being very clever though.