Liu Shaoqi

Did China ever have a Jewish leader? Yes, we said China. Sounds absurd, no?

And yet, there is a persistent decades-long rumor that Liu Shaoqi, who followed Mao as "The Chairman", was...

You know, we've been doing this for 18 years, and some of these are still so weird. Apparently, the rumor originated in a 1961 French book which relayed a supposed discussion between Liu and his uncle. In that (most likely apocryphal) conversation, the uncle claimed that their family had Jewish ancestry centuries ago.

That's it! No primary source, no ancestral probing, no grave-digging, no proof. A likely made-up quote that nonetheless somehow gave birth to a myth.

But what if there is some truth to it? On a long enough timeline, you're likely to find Jewish ancestry in anyone... Even the leader of China?

No, that's just weird and absurd.