20th-Century Revolutions in China: the Descriptions of Italian Travelogues

Although not so impressive on the basis of their quantity, and currently in large part still neglected in the scientific debate, nevertheless the Italian travelogues focused on 20th-century China are significant in the context of the Western perception and representation of this country. In fact, phase by phase during the century, they reflect a point of view, generally speaking, out of the Western mainstreams or clichés, as, before 1949, Italy was not an imperialistic superpower in Asia and, after 1949 until the collapse of the USSR, it hosted the largest communist movement based in Western Europe. Italian travelogues cover all over the several revolutions which involved China during the 20th century: Xinhai Revolution, Communist Revolution, Cultural Revolution. Italians witnessed also the first stage of Deng Xiaoping’s Reforms, which, historically speaking in a long term perspective, should be considered a ‘revolution-inside-a-revolution’, more than reforms. The paper will discuss the most significant Italian works in this respect; special emphasis will be given to the geo-historical themes present in the travel memoirs.