Chinatown Is a Hard Sell in Italy

Rome recently laid down the law on would-be founders of a Chinatown in the city's downtown area. The city wants to avoid the creation of an ethnic ghetto “in the historic center of Rome.” The Italians’ strongest complaint is the isolationist nature of the Chinese neighborhood, which operates almost entirely apart from the rest of the city. Many of the Chinese immigrants do not speak Italian, and seem to live exclusively within the locality, critics say. Even more troubling, some are illegally smuggled into the country, seeking to create new livelihoods for themselves. At least one Chinese-Italian activist is turning the discrimination accusation around, however, claiming that Romans suffer from “yellow peril hysteria.” As the ranks of diverse immigrant groups grow in Italy, the nation may struggle for a while longer before it finds an acceptable model of integration. – YaleGlobal