Signs in Chinese script hang from wrought-iron balconies in this Tuscan city.
Hot dumplings and fried fishflown in from
Dozens of Chinese jam up to a wall filled with taped notes, all written in
Chinese. Job offers are plentiful if grueling by Italian standards. Seamstresses
can earn 90 euro cents a dress about $1.50if they work all night in
small workshops. A man can earn up to 500 euros a
month$700if he works all his waking hours.
The transformation of
Like some city
neighborhoods, suburbs and small towns across the
"In all my travels, I had never seen anything like it," said
Roberto Ye, a son of Chinese immigrants and an Italian citizen who opened a
Western Union office in the heart of
To understand the impact, follow the money. This year, Chinese immigrants in
"You have to forget anything you have ever learned about Immigration
when you come to
Frattani has overseen immigrant outreach since 2002
and, since then,
An estimated 30,000 Chinese are legal immigrants in this city of 180,000.
Another 30,000 illegal immigrants are also suspected to live here. Many
among the Chinese work in small hidden factories for as long as 14 hours a day.
They keep to themselves, they buy everything with cash and they see work as a
mission, Frattani said.
Large warehouses line the motorway leading to
Inside a vast storeroom of cotton sweat pants, skirts and blouses, a Chinese
seamstress operated a high-speed, Japanese-made Juki sewing machine. Nearby, a
Chinese man lorded over thick layers of jersey cloth with massive electric
shears. With every buzz he created sleeves, pant legs and bodices for Chinese
men waiting with open arms.
They ran the pieces over to a red Fiat, trunk open and motor running. A Chinese
driver soon revved the packed car away. She
That visit was a snapshot of hard work and efficiency. There are grimmer
images.
Police have raided hundreds of crowded workshops in the past few years where
Chinese live, work and sleep. They earn far below standard wage yet produce
wares reportedly sold even in designer shops.
Some Chinese offer excuses for breaking labor laws. Workers still find
conditions in
But authorities say Italians subcontract with Chinese businessmen to cover
dodgy business practices; that Chinese owners rule over workers desperate for
jobs; and that criminal networks - a scourge in
Italy-can prey on outsiders who don
Social integration is almost non-existent; schools are the few places
where young Italians and Chinese mingle.
"Chinese businesses exist in
Tensions can erupt. In
"In
Frattani, the multicultural councilor, said the speed
and scale of this Immigration has transformed Italian markets. Chinese who
landed in
"We believe that the migration of Chinese is done with the will of the
"The Chinese know: Distribution is key. " This is the way to distribute all over
In December 2007, a national TV channel broadcast a documentary, "Slaves of Luxury,"
that linked several luxury brands in
In
"In official factories, everyone has to have a certain amount of space and
work a certain amount of hours. Well, if you follow those rules, costs will
keep you out of the market," said Luigi Sun, owner of Uniontrade,
a Milan-based importer of Japanese and Chinese food and a respected figure in
the older Chinese community.
"If you are in the garment businesses here "and I don
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