Their biggest and most important center. however. had been set up during the twelfth century in the city of Kaifeng. in the northern province of Honan. where about a hundred Jewish families established themselves permanently. organized a community and erected the first synagogue on a site granted by the Chinese Emperor. After the Mongols invaded and conquered China. the Jews for the first time appeared on -the political scene and began to exert influence in government circles and in the army. Some of them were even appointed to high office and became part of the Mongolian bureaucracy which did not feel safe with the Chinese. educated class and distrusted Confucianism. It was at this time that the almost legendary .Marco Polo appeared among the many f6reignborn who. -besides the Jews. occupied positions of importance in. the Mongol administration. In many respects Jewish life under Mongol rule resembled on a small scale the magnificent era of the development of the Jewish communities under the Arabs in Spain.
Keywords matched
Mongolian