User talk:James Goodstadt

Yuan-entry for Kaifeng Jews
Hi, I saw your recent edit to the Kaifeng Jews article regarding a possible Yuan-entry. I plan on reading the article when I get a chance, but I wanted to point out that I came to a similar conclusion (more of a suggestion, really) on my research blog. I'm glad to see others are looking at the history from a new perspective.

https://historyofthekaifengjews.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/did-the-kaifeng-ancestors-arrive-during-the-yuan-dynasty/

--Ghostexorcist (talk) 09:40, 13 August 2018 (UTC)


 * I am happy that you are interested in reading the article. I am actually the author of it. In terms of Yuan-entry and the social conditions in early Ming Dynasty, our ideas are similar; however, as it is published in JJS, I have to use more accurate and reliable sources both in Chinese and English to illustrate my ideas. I think you will like my article. It's a huge work. I cannot input more content of that article on Wikipedia, as the article is a property of JJS.


 * Thank you for sending me the link of your blog. I like it. I found there is an interesting fact probably you are the first person who noticed it. The 1489 inscription says that "归我中夏, 遵守祖风, 留遗汴梁."You are right that Pien-liang (汴梁) started to be used as the city's name in Yuan Dynasty. The Kaifeng Jews may argue that they used "indirect quotation", as Kaifeng was also called Pien-liang in Ming Dynasty. However, according to the Chinese tradition, people definitely would not use "indirect quotation" of an emperor's imperial edict (圣旨).


 * I'm just an amateur researcher, so I'm happy to see my suggestion has some merit. I only just realized the journal has a paywall. I unfortunately don't have a subscription. I'll have to save up and purchase the paper if possible. --Ghostexorcist (talk) 13:44, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

I just read several articles in your blog. I think we share many common interests. If you are still interested in Kaifeng Jewish Studies, we may think of working together later. My e-mail address is py2445@mun.ca.

Personaly I believe, you are much much better than those Chinese scholars. Zhang Qianhong got a medal from Israel government, and now she's the vice-president of Zhengzhou University; Chen Changqi won a provincial prize due to his Kaifeng Jews research, and became the Dean of School of History at South China Normal University. However, their researches regarding Kaifeng Jews were almost wrong. The only two reliable Chinese scholars in this area are Chen Yuan and Fang Zhaoying.

I noticed that the Western scholars also made lots of mistakes due to their lack of knowledge of Chinese. I personally like Weisz's translations, but his understanding of Chinese history and culture was completely wrong.

I think I probably have my unique advantages. I started to read Zhang Qianhong's articles in late 1980s, and I can keep a close track on the researches of Chinese scholars; my father was a professor of Chinese, so that I can read classical Chinese easily; and I got some of my education in England, Ireland, and Canada, so that my English is a little better than those Chinese scholars. Most importantly, I actually had the opportunities to visit the Kaifeng Muslim living quarter, and Xi'an Huajue mosque.

Keep in touch!

Best regards Peng