The Chinese in Italy at a Crossroads: The Economic Crisis

In this chapter I argue that over time the Chinese productive activities in Italy have significantly contributed to maintaining the competitiveness of some of the sectors in which Made in Italy products are famous such as garments, leather goods, couches and shoes (this article specifically addresses the garment industry); and in some instances they have even contributed to the expansion of the sector and the area where they operate. Even more significantly, in recent years, a growing number of Chinese migrants have been able to blend strategies of migration and transnational capital accumulation taking advantage of China’s growing role in the global economy. Chinese importers’ businesses, which in the last few years heavily have contributed to redefine the modalities of the Chinese presence in Italy, is due to China’s central role in the globalization of markets, and to its growing capacity to produce goods of diverse quality at competitive prices for the European markets. In the first years of the new century, the businesses of Chinese importers were on the verge of making Italy one of the principal European wholesale centres, second only to Budapest, for manufactured Chinese goods for the European market. In this article I will present the major economic changes that have taken place during the last decades for the Chinese migrants in Italy and argue that a very new situation has emerged as the result of economic expansion and market development in the People’s Republic of China and its participation to the globalized economy. The impact of China’s new international role is modifying expectations, opportunities, employment patterns and self-perception among the Chinese migrants, and is enhancing the already strong propensity of these migrants towards high mobility along Europe and between China and Europe. I intend to offer Italy as a case study of how global capitalism and globalization is changing migration from being economic settlement in the ethnic niche of garment/leather with modest possibilities of expansion, to full manufacturing and new employment patterns as importers and wholesalers of goods made in China. Recently, however, both production and commercial activities managed by Chinese migrants in Italy have been affected by an acute crisis as a result of a number of factors. For the Chinese involved in productive activities, the crisis can be framed within the broader crisis of the manufacturing sector in Italy, and possibly due to competition wrought by imported Chinese goods; while the crisis weighing on Chinese wholesale and retail importers has principally been caused by the Italian government’s intent to contain those imports from China that are perceived to be in direct competition with Made in Italy products produced in Italy. Contrary to expectations that these new occupations and new businesses activated by the Chinese in Italy are well accepted as they produce entrepreneurial opportunities for migrants and indirectly also for the receiving country, Italy pursue to regulate and to limit these economic developments because she perceive them as a threat to national manufacturing and export. In this article, again, I argue that Italy can be seen as a case study since in this country a new way of trying to control migration through economic sanctions can be seen at work. In this respect Italy could be seen as the outpost, the place where policies are implemented of reaction to China’s economic expansion and market development which affects migrants and local population alike. What is now happening in Italy could in the future be a controversial issue high in the European agenda.