Yiyi Chen is Director of the Institute for Hebrew and Jewish Studies at Peking University. Chen has been one of the leading Biblical scholars in China, and recently, pioneers the field of Middle Eastern Peace Studies at Shanghai Jiaotong University. Chen is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Sino-Western Communications in the US. He has been a visiting professor in Graduate Theological Union (2008-2010) and the University of California at Berkeley (2006-2007). He also serves as a Peer-review College Member of England’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. Chen is the author of several books, among them, the Chinese college standard textbook Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (Peking University Press, 2011) and Textual and Archaeological Background of the Hebrew Bible (Kunlun Press, 2006). His Chinese translation of A. B. Yehoshua’s Hebrew novel Three Days and a Child was awarded the annual prize by Israel’s Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature in 1994. Chen heads several Chinese government commissioned projects related to Jewish Studies, the Bible, Israel and the Middle East. He leads the only Chinese think tank initiative to publish a Middle East Peace Index for the Chinese government. Chen has served in the Chinese army, trained in Modern Hebrew (BA, Peking University, 1994), Near Eastern Studies and Biblical Studies (MA and Ph.D., Cornell University, 2000).
Will China Interfere in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?
In June 1954, the leaders of China, India, and Burma (now Myanmar) issued a joint statement affirming the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence―mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence―as the basis for conducting international relations. Since then, China has adhered strictly to the principle of non-interference in other countries’ domestic turmoil, as displayed prominently over the past several years in Beijing’s response to the Syrian civil war.
Interview with Dr. Yiyi Chen on Hebrew/Jewish Studies in China and Sino-Israel Relations
Some might find it surprising to learn that China was never hostile or belligerent towards Israel. China never rejected or even questioned the State of Israel’s right to exist. Premier Zhou En Lai criticized Palestinian terrorism and categorically rejected the idea of ‘throwing the Israelis into the sea.’
