# How common is circumcision in China?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 17, 2010, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445 "2010-04-17T09:45:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MerryMagdalen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MerryMagdalen)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2010, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/1 "2010-04-17T09:45:12Z")
(Mainland, not Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc.)
I work in the healthcare field and many of my coworkers have English as a second or third language. Earlier today, I was trying to explain the word/abbreviation “circ.” to a coworker who’s first language is Mandarin. Her English is good, but her knowledge is not wide. I make an effort to speak slowly and carefully to her (as requested) but the words “circumcision” and “foreskin” seem to have brought a look of polite incomprehension. I fear she may think we castrate our infants here. She’s a sweetheart and I don’t want to scare her.
I’m not interested in your feelings on circumcision. I just want to know if it’s common practice in China.
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2010, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/2 "2010-04-17T11:25:44Z")
Nope. Not in the PRC, HK or Taiwan. Not that I havwe done extensive research or anything. But ancedotal evidence of 25 years of being in urinals and also seeing little kids swinging the bits in the breeze with split pants suggests circ is not practiced. I’ve never read of a minority group that practices circ either.
not sure if these characters will show up.
??? - circumcision
?? - foreskin
Here’s a fun Chinese joke. reverse the characters for foreskin and it means a leather wallet.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2010, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/3 "2010-04-17T12:08:54Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#):
>
> Here’s a fun Chinese joke. reverse the characters for foreskin and it means a leather wallet.
And then rub the characters and it turns into suitcase.
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### Author:  [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2010, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/4 "2010-04-17T12:56:10Z")
Nope, not practiced in China. It’s usually only widespread in countries where Islam or Christianity is a big part of the majority culture - although I’m not sure if Canada really falls under that description, and they love their genital mutilation as much as God-fearing Americans.
> **[File:Global Map of Male Circumcision Prevalence at Country Level.png](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Global_Map_of_Male_Circumcision_Prevalence_at_Country_Level.png)**
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/5 "2010-04-17T14:13:00Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#):
>
> I’ve never read of a minority group that practices circ either.
The Uighurs, Hui, Tajiks, Dongxiang, Kazakhs, Salar, Bonan, and Uzbeks, are all primarily Muslim, and they all circumcise.
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/6 "2010-04-17T16:01:25Z")
Here’s the Wikipedia entry on the prevalence of circumcision around the world:
> **[Prevalence of circumcision](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevalence_of_circumcision)**
>
> The prevalence of circumcision is the percentage of males in a given population who have been circumcised, with the procedure most commonly being performed as a part of prophylactic healthcare, a religious obligation, or cultural practice. Yosha & Bolnick & Koyle (2012) states that circumcision rates seem likely to increase during the "first half of the twenty-first century".\[unreliable medical source?\]
> Since 2010, both the World Health Organization and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AI...
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/7 "2010-04-17T16:34:29Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#):
>
> Nope. Not in the PRC, HK or Taiwan. Not that I havwe done extensive research or anything.
I agree with China Guy. I can’t remember ever seeing circumcision there. It’s quite uncommon.
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### Author:  [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/8 "2010-04-17T16:43:02Z")
> [@rhubarbarin](#):
>
> It’s usually only widespread in countries where Islam or Christianity is a big part of the majority culture - although I’m not sure if Canada really falls under that description, and they love their genital mutilation as much as God-fearing Americans.
I think you mean Islam, Judaism, Canada and the United States. Most Christians outside of US and Canada do not practice circumcision.
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### Author:  [@MerryMagdalen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MerryMagdalen)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/9 "2010-04-17T19:17:49Z")
Thanks guys. That makes her response more understandable. This way next time I have a way to explain that it’s not common where she’s from but some of the minority groups do it.
**China Guy** those characters did not show up.
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### Author:  [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/10 "2010-04-17T19:48:39Z")
> [@groman](#):
>
> I think you mean Islam, Judaism, Canada and the United States. Most Christians outside of US and Canada do not practice circumcision.
South Korea practices circumcision as well, presumably through American influence.
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/11 "2010-04-18T05:31:05Z")
I knew a guy in the Taiwan army who got it snipped. Presumably for hygiene reasons but really for the 1 week extra medical leave he got.
I just don’t know if th Uighur, Hui or other Nationalities practice snipping the tip. I’ve never loooked into it. A guy on these boards is married to a Uighur and spent time in xinjiang. The Hui nationality identify as muslim but generally are pretty far removed from most practices except for avoidance of pork.
If I get a chance will post from my laptop instead of phone.
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/12 "2010-04-18T05:50:20Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#):
>
> I just don’t know if th Uighur, Hui or other Nationalities practice snipping the tip. I’ve never loooked into it.
The Uighur term for the ceremony is the sunnät toy (holiday of the Sunnah, I think), and it’s done on boys between 5 and 7 years of age. The government frowns on it, and has condemned it and a lot of other Uighur ceremonies as “feudal, superstitious and backwards ideas”, and is trying to suppress it.
I’ve also seen citations that it’s common among the western Hui, but unusual among the eastern Hui. But the Hui are heavily Sinicized anyway.
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### Author:  [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2010, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/13 "2010-04-18T06:51:23Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#):
>
> I’ve never read of a minority group that practices circ either.
Hmmm, I wonder if Kaifeng Jews do it. I’d like to find out, but I don’t quite know how to ask that…
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2010, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/14 "2010-04-18T07:49:33Z")
If the Kaifeng jews ever existed there’s no extant community now AFAIK.
try the characters again:
割礼 circumcision ceremony
割除包皮 circumcise
包皮 foreskin
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/15 "2010-04-18T15:42:35Z")
> [@kidneyfailure](#):
>
> Hmmm, I wonder if Kaifeng Jews do it. I’d like to find out, but I don’t quite know how to ask that…
I’ve never heard of a Jewish community that didn’t circumcise. It’s literally the oldest, most fundamental Jewish practice.
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### Author:  [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2010, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/16 "2010-04-19T00:11:42Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#):
>
> If the Kaifeng jews ever existed there’s no extant community now AFAIK.
Never been there myself, but from what I hear there are still some practicing Jews who are descended from the original Kaifeng Jews in the area. Seems like their practice mostly revolves around wearing kippah, reading the Old Testament, eschewing pork and celebrating Hannukah, nothing too deeply theological or ritualistic AFAIK. Never heard anything mentioned about circumcision, though.
They certainly existed, and still do sort of exist now.
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> I’ve never heard of a Jewish community that didn’t circumcise. It’s literally the oldest, most fundamental Jewish practice.
This link:
> **[KAIFENG JEWISH COMMUNITY](https://www.hebrewsongs.com/kaifeng.htm)**
Seems to mention that the traditional Kaifeng Jews practiced it:
\*Besides keeping regular Hebrew festivals and fasts, they practiced circumcision and adhered to kosher practice. \*
Though I doubt they do now. Actually, **mrs.kidneyfailure** and I have been discussing whether or not we should circumcise our soon-to-be-born baby if it turns out to be a boy. I’d like to follow traditional Jewish practice even in China, but my wife seems to not like the idea.
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### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/17 "2010-04-19T00:50:55Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#):
>
> Nope. Not in the PRC, HK or Taiwan. Not that I havwe done extensive research or anything. But ancedotal evidence of 25 years of being in urinals …
Sorry for the derailment, but _what_? You _look_? I’ve gone to thousands of urinals too, and I’ve never once seen another man’s penis at one, because I _don’t look_. It’s just not done.
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/18 "2010-04-19T02:52:29Z")
peripheral vision. and i’ve had hundreds if not thousands of guys check me out. Seriously, you’re Chinese, never seen a westerner before, and there’s one pissinf next to you. Are white guys noticeably bigger or different? and WTF is ‘WRONG’ with this guys junk? what the hell is that - a hardhat instead of an anteater? Is this the joy of capitalism? I mean sheesh I want to make beaucoup bucks but you ain’t taking a little off of the top of my member!
Blondes would get checked out even worse.
Now I’ll admit that this rarely happens today but was routine 25 years ago.
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/19 "2010-04-19T03:02:50Z")
> [@kidneyfailure](#):
>
> Never been there myself, but from what I hear there are still some practicing Jews who are descended from the original Kaifeng Jews in the area. Seems like their practice mostly revolves around wearing kippah, reading the Old Testament, eschewing pork and celebrating Hannukah, nothing too deeply theological or ritualistic AFAIK. Never heard anything mentioned about circumcision, though.
>
> They certainly existed, and still do sort of exist now.
>
> This link:
>
> [http://www.hebrewsongs.com/kaifeng.htm](http://www.hebrewsongs.com/kaifeng.htm)
>
> Seems to mention that the traditional Kaifeng Jews practiced it:
>
> \*Besides keeping regular Hebrew festivals and fasts, they practiced circumcision and adhered to kosher practice. \*
>
> Though I doubt they do now. Actually, **mrs.kidneyfailure** and I have been discussing whether or not we should circumcise our soon-to-be-born baby if it turns out to be a boy. I’d like to follow traditional Jewish practice even in China, but my wife seems to not like the idea.
FWIW, this was widely discussed in the Shanghai Long Bar many years ago when the research for the book was being done. Several of the long barbarians were very lost members of the tribe and knew the author. Concensus view was it was a good story, very thin on fact and evidence, and likely made up bar babble. YMMV
Now the the Kaifeng Jews still practiced circumcision it would make the premise more believeable but I don’t believe this has been documented.
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### Author:  [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-circumcision-in-china/536445/20 "2010-04-19T03:53:58Z")
I dunno, **CG** …you think the community didn’t exist at all? I think we should take it for granted that there’d be embellishments and tall-tales and legends associated with Kaifeng Jews, as there would be with most largely “vanished” peoples, but I kinda find it hard to believe that the whole thing was made up, especially in light of the fact that there are some Chinese who practice Judaism in Kaifeng (there was a video of some Chinese Jews lighting a menorah and wearing tallit that used to be on Youku) and that AFAIK Kaifeng Jews are generally accepted to have existed by most Chinese. Who knows?
And I totally understand you about the peripheral vision thing. Hell, some Chinese guys stand way back from the urinal and just let everything sway in the breeze. I’ve had some pretty awkward experiences in Chinese bathrooms.
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