Chinatown - Milan style

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April 13, 2007· Filed Under Italy, Milan 

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As I have mentioned before, I live on the edge of the area of Milan which is known as the Milanese Chinatown. Apart from the invasion of Chinese run wholesale clothing and shoe shops, the area is usually quiet and the Chinese population keeps very much to itself. Until yesterday.

Yesterday the local traffic police fined a Chinese trader for using his private car to transport goods to his shop. The fine also included a 60 day period in which the trader would be forbidden from using his car. No car means no work for these people and although the 40€ fine did not cause problems, taking away the guy’s right to use his car did. Enter wife with 3 year old child and various other family members. One thing led to several others and a reported 400 people ended up in confrontations with riot police and the area was locked down until after sunset yesterday.

How, you may be wondering, can such an innocuous incident result in a near riot? Well, the Chinese presence in the area has increased massively recently and they have all but taken over the Paolo Sarpi area of Milan. Lax planning laws made this silent invasion simpler, but the lack of control has resulted in things getting a little out of hand. Local, Italian, residents have been moaning about the traffic chaos and and the fact that the area has gone from being a pleasant street full of nice shops selling a wide variety of items to something, I imagine, like the down town rag trade zone of Beijing. As a result of all the complaints the local police had been clamping down on a range of infringements and the tax police, the Guardia della Finanza, had been carrying out lots of spot checks to ensure that everything was above board.

All these checks seem to have wound up the normally placid Chinese and yesterday’s incident was the final straw. The event even made the BBC, here. The checks really seem like shutting the door after the horse has bolted to this here blogger from Milan. It was pretty obvious what was happening, so why the politicos had not acted before is anyone’s guess. I think I could make one or two guesses as to why no action was taken, but I won’t make them public. I’d like to see what comes out in the wash. If it ever does, that is.

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5 Responses to “Chinatown - Milan style”

  1. Wind Rose Hotel said on April 14th, 2007 3:42 pm

    Hi Alex, I agree with you, “one or two guesses” included, I suppose. Have a nice week end.

    rob

    P.S.: I’ll definitely have to keep an eye on your blog. I’d start by linking to it from WRH.

  2. Alex said on April 14th, 2007 9:13 pm

    Hi back Rob - You have a good weekend too. I shall be providing a link to your blog too - you write about some very interesting stuff.

    A presto,

    Alex

  3. Ovip.consult said on April 16th, 2007 3:26 pm

    Well, the same problem with westerners living in Asia…. they never adapt but why they don’t get into discrimination problem? Because Asians are more tolerant. There are invasion of several European races into some parts of Asia and they are all tolerated… now it’s time for Italians to learn from Asians, don’t you think so? Invasion of European products all over Asia… hahahaahaahah, now don’t you all realize how bad Europeans were in the past?

  4. TP said on April 29th, 2007 7:55 am

    Hi Alex,
    I think your guesses will come to light - it may be that there was some corruption?
    BTW - by using the term ‘Chinatown’, you are adding to the ghettoization of the area which may be better called zona Sarpi.
    Thx.

  5. Alex said on April 29th, 2007 4:38 pm

    TP,

    From now on I shall avoid using the term ‘Chinatown’, although Italians in Milan have been referring to the zone using this term for many years. I just need to say that I live near Via Sarpi and the response from an Italian resident in Milan will invariably be ‘Ah, you live in Chinatown’. And this seems to indicate that the area has been ‘ghettoised’ for quite a long time. The UK, where I’m from, is full of ‘ghettos’, but I’m not referring to the areas where immigrants live, but to the housing estates which are often clusters of people from similar classes. Wealth or lack of it, creates ghettos as much as ethnic origins, in my opinion. ‘Birds of a feather flock together’. This little saying holds true for both immigrants and indigenous populations. Italy’s ‘ghettos’ often exist from one appartment block to another, and this tends to aid integration, whereas in the UK, specific areas tend to become dominated by one ethnic group and this means that integration becomes slower. Integration is essential, but it means that both those who are already part of the indigenous population must integrate as much as those who are not. Only, human beings being funny animals, this process often does not happen in the way it should.

    Alex

    Ovip.consult,

    I guess you are right, Asians seem to be more down to earth when it comes to tolerating other races, wars excepted. In war time, just about any and every excuse seems to be used to persecute those who are on the other side.
    The Chinese population in Milan has done no wrong in my eyes, it has just exploited a situation that was asking to be exploited. And from my limited knowledge, I understand that Chinese business practices are similar in some ways to those which exist in Italy.

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