BEIJING, Nov. 4 -- Walking along the streets in Harbin, the capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, you see a large amount of well-preserved European-style architecture, among which is a site with a distinctive Star of David on a giant dome. This is the New Jewish Synagogue, which not only provides a narration of the Jewish religion in the city but also a home to an extensive collection of Jewish culture and artifacts.

    Tracing back to the late 19th and early 20th century, the Jewish community in Harbin was one of the strongest and most viable in the city. According to Li Shuxiao, deputy director of the Harbin Jewish Research Center with the Heilongjiang Academy of Social Sciences, between 1899, when the first Russian Jewish immigrants came to Harbin and 1985, when the last Jewish settler in Harbin passed away, altogether more than 20,000 Jewish people spent their lives at one time or an...

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