1271: Jacob of Ancona
Italian Jew, reached China four years before Marco Polo
Jacob of Ancona was an Italian Jew who sailed from Italy to India and China in 1270. He arrived in Quanzhou, the city frequently mentioned by Muslim adventurers in their travelogues, in 1271, four years before the Venetian traveller Marco Polo reached the country. In February 1272, Jacob left China and reached Ancona in May of the following year.
Circumcision, Semuren, Huangchao Rebellion
Jacob pointed out that circumcision was performed before the eighth day.
Regarding how the locals perceived the Jews, he wrote, "they call the Saracens and the Jews by the name of those who have large noses and do not eat the meat of the pig, God forbid, saying that both are somaciun, which in our language means men with coloured eyes.”
On the massacre of Jews during the Huangchao Rebellion, “along with Saracens, Christians, and Parsees” in Guangzhou, he wrote, “This is accurate, the rebel Bao-choo (Huangchao) carried out a massacre of settlers and those of minority religion in Guangzhou in AD 877.”
Jews spoke and wrote in mixture of Chinese and Hebrew
Interestingly, Jacob noted, “they also speak their payers in a tongue that I could not follow, being composed of the language of Sinim and of some words of our tongue (Hebrew), but spoken in a strange fashion, as also is their Torah, all being written in Mancino (Chinese) yet with whole words of our language (Hebrew) being hidden within it so that they may not be seen.”
Quanzhou synagogue, “more than 1,000 years old”
Jacob described there were two groups of Jews in Quanzhou, the Chinese Jews, and the Italian Jews. He also wrote about a synagogue in the city that was “more than one thousand years old.”
Jews in Fujian, Suzhou, and Sichuan
During his stay, he probably travelled to the province of Fujian, for he mentioned that he met Jews there. He also heard that there were Jews in Suzhou and Sichuan.
Kaifeng had Books of Maccabees and Son of Sirach
Although he never made it to Kaifeng, Jacob noted, "in the house of study in Chaifen (Kaifeng) are the lost books of the Maccabees and the Son of Sirach."
Manuscript published as The City of Light
The original manuscript was written in vernacular Italian. It was translated by David Selbourne and published as The City of Light, being Zaitun (today's Quanzhou), the destination of Jacob's trip. However, it is disputed whether the original text was authentic or existed at all.