China Reopens Jewish Cemetery
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BEIJING — Chinese authorities have reopened a Jewish cemetery originally built by Jews who moved to northeast China after the completion of the Trans-Siberian railway a century ago, the state-run New China News Agency said Monday.
Workers cleaned up the cemetery in Harbin, near the border with Russia in northeastern China, and placed flowers on each tomb before China’s traditional grave-sweeping festival, which was observed Tuesday, the news agency said.
The cemetery, which has more than 2,000 tombs and is said to be the largest of its kind in Asia, was built in 1903 by members of a Jewish community in Harbin, the news agency said. It said 20,000 Jews traveled to the city after the Trans-Siberian railway was completed in 1896. In 1953, Harbin’s government moved 605 well-preserved tombs to the current site, the Huangshan Cemetery, the news agency said.
It reported that Zhou Jifa, a local official, expressed hope that relatives of those buried would visit the cemetery.
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