Chinese descendants in Italy: emergence, role and uncertain identity

Abstract

The history of Chinese immigration in Italy is about a century old, but numbers have become consistent in the last decades and the emergence of new generations is a recent phenomenon. This article examines the growing role of Chinese descendants in the country (within Chinese enterprises and new forms of interaction with the mainstream society) and their processes of identity formation, focusing the attention on the role played by Italian society and the dominant prejudices about this ethnic minority. The study highlights the relevance of social exclusion and identity prescription, as well as the importance of class, in determining different feelings of belonging and processes of identification. While a minority of middle-class Chinese have identified with Italy and developed a new hyphenated identity, many Chinese from the lower class appear uncertain about their national identity and react to social exclusion by abandoning hope and dropping out of education.

Keywords:

• Italian-Chinese
• second generation
• Chinese enterprise
• identity and belongings
• Italy
• prescribed Chineseness

Notes

1. Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria and the Nordic countries from the 1970s, southern Europe from the 1980s, and Eastern Europe from the 1990s (Pieke 2002, 5).

2. One example, quoted by Ceccagno (2004b), is drugstores, mostly opened by Chinese with relatives who had already started up such businesses in the Netherlands or France .

3. Between 2006–07 and 2009–10, the number of Chinese attending Italian universities rose by 220%, to 4,642 (http://www.associna.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=856).

4. Interview by the author, 1 August 2013.

5. The name ‘Associna’ combines the words associazione (association) and Cina (China).

6. http://www.associna.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=14

7. http://www.associna.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=14

8. http://www.associna.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=14

9. http://www.associna.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=14

10. Interview by the author, 5 August 2013.

11. Interview by the author, 7 August 2013.

12. Interview by the author, 6 August 2013.

13. Interview by the author, 9 August 2013.

14. Interview by the author, 8 August 2013.

15. Interview by the author, 1 August 2013.

16. These percentages increased to 56% and 54% respectively among children from the lower class.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anna Marsden

ANNA MARSDEN is a PhD researcher at the School of Law and Social Sciences, University of East London.