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JEWS IN SHANGHAI: THE STORY FOR SURVIVAL

PRESENTED BY

CHINESE CULTURAL CENTER OF GREATER TORONTO
CANADIAN CHINA SOCIETY OF TORONTO
JVS OF GREATER TORONTO



PROGRAM
(Adobe Acrobat Required)

We were proud to present an exciting theatre event about a community numbering close to 50,000 at the end of World War II who were offered sanctuary in Shanghai. It was the film A Place To Save Your Life, a documentary of the Jews fleeing the Holocaust who were rescued by Dr. Feng Shan Ho. There was a detailed discussion by filmmaker Karen Shopsowitz as well as many tasty delicacies of Chinese and Jewish cuisine at our pre-film reception.

Former CCS President Small kicked off the event by introducing to the audience about the history of our CCS in the context of Canada and China relations of his generation. His speech set the stage for CCS and JVS in partnership with the Chinese Cultural Centre as the co-organizers for this educational and cross-cultural event. Mr. Meir, the Israeli Consul General highly praised the Jewish-Chinese friendship and appealed for broad and continuous support against terrorism.

Chinese Deputy Consul General Mr. Li echoed his Israeli counterpart's comments. He also made a positive note on China and Canada economic relations. Huge Eng, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Cultural Centre, added his humour by joking about the inevitability of Chinese as newcomers "stealing" (learning without noticing others) knowledge and expertise in managing and also in the establishing of businesses in Canada. Senator Vivienne Poy came just in time for her speech at the end of the event. Her speech highlighted the friendship between Chinese and the Jewish people from a personal and an official perspectives. Karen Shopsowitz's film was very well received by the audience. The audience was highly moved by the story showed in her film.

Other invited guests included the CIBC VP for Asian Banking, RBC DS VP, President of Chinese Women Association of Canada and Head of Beijing Association of Canada. In all, over 850 people attended the event last night. Over 90% of the audience were Jewish and the numbers of the young and old were almost equal. Four Jews of Shanghai survivors came as well as a number of news media including Talentvision and CFMT. Karen Goldenberg, Executive Director of J.V.S., co-chaired with Michael Copeland for the event, providing needed leadership to put things together.



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