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Milan Chinatown: The Defamation of Place in the Making of Territorial Stigma

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Gentrification and Diversity

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Abstract

Milan Chinatown is the multiethnic neighborhood of Via Paolo Sarpi where streets, the international flow of Chinese goods, and the daily routines of elderly Italians, local families, and city users intersect. It is also the setting of the Chinese riot that broke out in 2007. Thoughts, memories, desires, and fears of ordinary people living, using, and working in the neighborhood are testimonials of residents, store owners, key informants, and city rulers. They provide perceptions and feelings that expose the effect of the stigmatized rhetoric produced by “the powerful” in the name of speculative intents.

Forget it Jake. It’s Chinatown.

—Roman Polanski, Chinatown, 1974

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Source: Associna, Associna, Association of the Chinese second generation in Italy www.associna.com.

  2. 2.

    A first attempt to reconstruct the origins of Chinese immigration to Europe from Zhejiang, comparing Chinese and European sources is located in Thunø 1996. See also Pieke and Benton 1998.

  3. 3.

    For an accurate historical reconstruction of the socioeconomic integration of Chinese immigrants in Milan see Cologna (1997, 2002a and 2002b).

  4. 4.

    Brianza is a famous area in the north of Milan, in which people have a making money attitude in the way they conduct business.

  5. 5.

    See Johnson that describes the Chinese family as “a corporate entity in which its members cooperate to meet (economic) goals” (1993: 103).

  6. 6.

    Approximation based on data of the Registry Office of Milan City: from 8,656 residents in 2000 the Chinese population has grown to 18,946 in 2010.

  7. 7.

    The Ministero dell’Interno (Ministry of Internal Affairs) indicates the 30% as the average estimate of the percentage of undocumented immigrants in Italy, see Ministero dell’Interno (2007).

  8. 8.

    After the Berlusconi government of the early 2000s, educational supports for migrant children were drastically reduced: abolition of the national fund for integration policies, elimination of seconded teachers for learning facilitation, etc.

  9. 9.

    Via means “street” in Italian language.

  10. 10.

    The legislative decree 114/1998 “Reforming the law on trade” and the next legislative decree 223/2006 “Urgent provisions for economic and social revival, to contain and rationalize public spending, and expenditures in contrast of tax evasion” reformed legislation on trade and free-competition in the Italian law.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Mediations, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Lidia Katia C. Manzo

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  1. Lidia Katia C. Manzo
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Correspondence to Lidia Katia C. Manzo .

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Manzo, L.K.C. (2023). Milan Chinatown: The Defamation of Place in the Making of Territorial Stigma. In: Gentrification and Diversity. The Urban Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35143-3_2

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