The ‘Italian Dream’. Chinese Migrants in an Italian Alpine Village, in Northern Italy. Social and Cultural Challenges.

Abstract

The phenomenon of Chinese migration has characterized Chinese culture since centuries. Since ancient times, Chinese decided to leave their homeland to move, seeking for more agreeable place where to start over a new life. This phenomenon intensified considerably starting from the first years of XIX c.: Chinese people born in the south-eastern provinces (specifically Zhejiang and then Fujian) moved to America, to Australia and also to Europe. At first Chinese migrants decided to move to Central Europe, especially to France and Spain. However, right after the end of the First World War, lots of Chinese, employed in factories during the War, moved to Italy. From this moment on, Italy saw three periods of migrations: the first migration flow was recorded in 1918, right after the end of the First World War. Chinese people, born in Zhejiang province, arrived in Italy from France and there, they started settling the first households by calling back also their parents from China. However, in 1949 a restrictive policy imposed by the CCP blocked all the migrations outside China, so the population was forced to remain inside the Country. This period lasted until 1976, with Mao Zedong’s death. In the 80s migrations started again, Chinese people were encouraged to travel and to move to other countries. Italy, in this period, experienced a second migration flow: we can define it a real “chain migration”, which brought Zhejiangese and Fujianese communities to let China seeking to expand their business skills. The most recent migration phenomenon started in the first years of 2000, from the north-eastern area of China (Dongbei), due to a collective redundancy of employees in the big industries and mines. These migrations are characterized by relatively older economic migrants, mostly towards Europe. Regarding Italy, Chinese population spread the most in the north and part of central Italy (where most manufacturing activities are located), since the 80s and 90s have been a period of economic prosperity. We count that the amount of Chinese in the very first year of 2000s were around 70,000, mostly located in the north of Italy: from Prato to Milan, passing also through Veneto. Nowadays, Veneto is, behind Tuscany and Lombardy, the third region where Chinese people live. They decided to settle in big cities where there were high probabilities to find new jobs. However, they moved also to small villages, among which they chose Lozzo di Cadore, a little village in the extreme north of Veneto. In Lozzo di Cadore, the Chinese arrived for the first time in 1997. At first, they were just three, but then, the number gradually grew because they started working in the eyewear factories. In the last 20 years Lozzo di Cadore recorded the fifth highest percentage of the total Chinese living in the province of Belluno. Unfortunately, now, many of them emigrated from Lozzo since the economic prosperity of the first 2000s ended. This research seeks to investigate Chinese migration from the early 1800s and particularly the evolution in the creation of Chinese communities in Europe and then in Italy. The method employed include both a desk review of scientific and grey literature, and fieldwork conducted by means of qualitative interviews with Chinese villagers which still live in Lozzo di Cadore and also with those who decided to move from it. The conducted interview wants to analyze what are the main reasons that lead them to leave China to come to Italy, and precisely to Lozzo di Cadore. The conducted interview also collects the problems and difficulties both adults and children had in their path towards integration, by also underlining the issues they faced abandoning their home and families to come to Italy. The interviewed will be actively encouraged to answer to the questions through a face-to-face interview, whose results will be useful to emphasize their social and cultural challenges.