Chinese people in Italy

The Chinese people in Italy (Chinese: 意大利华人, Pinyin: Yìdàlì Huárén, Italian: Cinesi in Italia) comprise Italian residents or citizens of Chinese heritage and Chinese who migrated to Italy.

With a century-old history, the Chinese community in Italy has grown rapidly in recent decades. In 2014, there were at least 308,984 Chinese citizens in Italy. These figures do not account for former Chinese citizens who have acquired Italian nationality or Italian-born people of Chinese descent.National Institute of Statistics (Italy): I cittadini non comunitari regolarmente soggiornanti . Retrieved 5 January 2015.

History

Origin Chinese immigration to Italy dates back to the late-19th century, who came from the older Chinese communities of Paris, Amsterdam, and other major European trading ports as seamen and traders. As Italy's most important economic and industrial center, Milan was the primary destination for the Chinese immigrating to Italy.

The majority of Chinese migrants in Italy come from Qingtian and the surrounding counties of Wenzhou in southern Zhejiang, a region known for its highly mountainous terrain, and tradition of emigration and overseas trade due to its lack of arable lands. When they first arrived in Milan, they initially settled in what is now the Porta Ticinese quarter, at the time the most impoverished and illicit area of Milan, but also offered some of the cheapest license for vending in the whole of European continent, allowing the community to gain a foothold by supporting themselves through street vending.

After the mid-1920s, trade in imitation pearls became the main business of Chinese community in Italy, allowing women of all social classes to purchase the otherwise unaffordable jewelries. When the imitation pearl industry waned by the end of the decade, the community began to dedicate themselves to the processing of silk for ties and leather and belts.

Wartime The outbreak of World War II and the ensuing conflicts have inflicted serious devastation to the Chinese community in Italy and wider regions of Europe. After Italy, under the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini, entered the war on the side of Germany and Japan through the signing of the Axis Pact on 27 September 1940, the Chinese residents, whose home country was aligned with the Allied Powers, came under suspicion. The Italian authorities launched widespread arrests of Chinese nationals. Close to 200 migrants from Qingtian were incarcerated in the internment facility at Isola del Gran Sasso in Abruzzo.

A report published in L' Osservatore Romano on 4–5 August 1941 noted that forty of the internees underwent baptism in the camp's church, following missionary work by a Chinese clergyman identified as Pastor Chang. The internment ended in late 1943 when local anti-Fascist partisans took control of the area and freed those held at the camp.

Post-War and Present

Demographics In 2010, Prato, Tuscany had the largest concentration of Chinese people in Italy and all of Europe. It has the second largest population of Chinese people overall in Italy after Milan.

Religion

In 2010, approximately one quarter of the Chinese community was classified as belonging to the Chinese (folk) religion.Pierluigi Zoccatelli; Religione e religiosità fra i cinesi a Torino. "Religione cinese", identità secolare e presenze di origine cristiana. In: Luigi Berzano, Carlo Genova, Massimo Introvigne, Roberta Ricucci, Pierluigi Zoccatelli; Cinesi a Torino: la crescita di un arcipelago; Il Mulino, 2010. . pp. 222-223: «L'atteggiamento religioso che classifichiamo qui come "religione cinese" corrisponde a circa un quarto del campione [...]». The surveyors weren't able to determine a precise Taoist identity. Only 1.1% of the surveyed people identified as such, and the analysts preferred to consider Taoism as an "affluent" of the Chinese religion.Pierluigi Zoccatelli; Religione e religiosità fra i cinesi a Torino. "Religione cinese", identità secolare e presenze di origine cristiana. In: Luigi Berzano, Carlo Genova, Massimo Introvigne, Roberta Ricucci, Pierluigi Zoccatelli; Cinesi a Torino: la crescita di un arcipelago; Il Mulino, 2010. . p. 223: «Non abbiamo invece trovato ragioni sufficienti per identificare una specifica identità taoista – in effetti, solo tre intervistati si sono dichiarati esplicitamente taoisti –, e preferiamo considerare il taoismo come un affluente della "religione cinese".» The survey found that 39.9% of the Chinese had a thoroughly atheist identity, not believing in any god, nor belonging to any religious organisation, nor practicing any religious activity.Pierluigi Zoccatelli; Religione e religiosità fra i cinesi a Torino. "Religione cinese", identità secolare e presenze di origine cristiana. In: Luigi Berzano, Carlo Genova, Massimo Introvigne, Roberta Ricucci, Pierluigi Zoccatelli; Cinesi a Torino: la crescita di un arcipelago; Il Mulino, 2010. . p. 223: «[...] a Torino il 39,9% che congiuntamente si dichiara non religioso, non crede in Dio o in un potere superiore, non crede in una vita dopo la morte, né pratica la divinazione, può essere ascritto a questa identità secolare.»

The 2010 study also analysed the Chinese Christian community, finding it comprised 8% of the total population, of which 3.6% were Catholics, 3.3% Protestants and 1.1% Jehovah's Witnesses. The Christian community was small, but larger than that of the province of origin, especially for the Catholics and the Jehovah's Witnesses, the latter being an illegal religion in China.Pierluigi Zoccatelli; Religione e religiosità fra i cinesi a Torino. "Religione cinese", identità secolare e presenze di origine cristiana. In: Luigi Berzano, Carlo Genova, Massimo Introvigne, Roberta Ricucci, Pierluigi Zoccatelli; Cinesi a Torino: la crescita di un arcipelago; Il Mulino, 2010. . p. 225: «Ne è emersa una presenza non certamente maggioritaria ma, come vedremo nel paragrafo successivo, forse maggiore rispetto a quella delle regioni cinesi di origine. In particolare, appare maggiore la presenza di cattolici e compaiono i Testimoni di Geova, che nella regione da cui provengono la maggioranza dei cinesi di Torino non possono operare legalmente.» Protestants were found to be basically nondenominational and largely (70%) women.Pierluigi Zoccatelli; Religione e religiosità fra i cinesi a Torino. "Religione cinese", identità secolare e presenze di origine cristiana. In: Luigi Berzano, Carlo Genova, Massimo Introvigne, Roberta Ricucci, Pierluigi Zoccatelli; Cinesi a Torino: la crescita di un arcipelago; Il Mulino, 2010. . p. 227

2011 and 2012 ISTAT surveys of religious affiliation among the immigrants in Italy, the religion of the Chinese people in Italy were as follows: Non religious: 44.5% Buddhists: 44.4% Christians: 7.3% Other religions: 3.8%

Community relations In 2007, several dozen protesters took to the streets in Milan over alleged discrimination. The northern Italian town of Treviso also ordered Chinese-run businesses to take down their lanterns because they looked "too oriental".

Cities with significant Chinese communities

Based on 2011 ISTAT statistics.

Milan 18,918 (1.43% on total resident population) Rome 12,013 Prato 11,882 (6.32%) Turin 5,437 Florence 3,890 (1.05%) Campi Bisenzio 3,018 (6.87%) Reggio Emilia 2,925 (1.72%) Bologna 2,654 Naples 2,456 Brescia 2,394 (1.23%) Venice 2,163 Empoli 1,759 (3.67%) Genoa 1,637 Forlì 1,607 (1.36%) Padua 1,571 Fucecchio 1,502 (6.39%)

The city of Prato has the second largest Chinese immigrant population in Italy (after Milan with Italy's largest Chinatown). Legal Chinese residents in Prato in December 2008 were 9,927. In 2011, local authorities estimated the number of Chinese citizens living in Prato to be around 45,000, illegal immigrants included.

The majority of Chinese living in Italy are from the city of Wenzhou in the province of Zhejiang, some of them having moved from the Chinatown in Paris. In 2021, there were 33,871 (2,466%) Chinese in Milan and 33,649 (16,764%) in Prato.Cinesi in italia tuttitalia.it

Notable people

See also China–Italy relations Chinese diaspora Qingtianese diaspora Immigration to Italy Italians in China

References

Chinese people in Italy

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