SHANGHAI, China (AP) –  A glass was smashed, and a cheer went up.


After months of careful negotiations with the Chinese government, Shanghai’s Jewish community celebrated a revival last month as a historic synagogue opened for its first wedding in about 60 years.


Shanghai has special meaning for the global Jewish population after it took in tens of thousands of Jewish refugees during World War II. The city’s Jewish community and the foreign community at large soon faded away, however, after the communists took over in 1949 and heavily restricted both business and culture. For decades, the practice of religion was discouraged, and places of worship were torn down or given secular uses, such as storage spaces for grain.