Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Part One Chinese Media in the Early Twentieth Century
- Part Two Content Analyses of Chinese Media
- Part Three Depictions of China in Foreign Media
- Perception of China and the Chinese Among Users of Zambian Internet Forums
- The Image of China in Polish Media
- China's World Role in Mainstream Western Media. A Case Study of The Economist
- Venturesome, Mysterious, Isolated? The Image of Chinese Immigrants in Italian Mass Media
- Indonesian “Chineseness”: The Image of the Chinese Diaspora in Indonesian Film. Character Portrayal and Interethnic Relations
- Contributors
- Index
Venturesome, Mysterious, Isolated? The Image of Chinese Immigrants in Italian Mass Media
from Part Three - Depictions of China in Foreign Media
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Part One Chinese Media in the Early Twentieth Century
- Part Two Content Analyses of Chinese Media
- Part Three Depictions of China in Foreign Media
- Perception of China and the Chinese Among Users of Zambian Internet Forums
- The Image of China in Polish Media
- China's World Role in Mainstream Western Media. A Case Study of The Economist
- Venturesome, Mysterious, Isolated? The Image of Chinese Immigrants in Italian Mass Media
- Indonesian “Chineseness”: The Image of the Chinese Diaspora in Indonesian Film. Character Portrayal and Interethnic Relations
- Contributors
- Index
Summary
Modern Italian society is becoming increasingly multicultural. Since the 1980s, Italy has been influenced by different flows of migrants coming from various areas of the world. Nowadays, the current statistical data show that foreigners constitute about 7.5% of the whole population registered in Italy (a percentage higher than the European average: 6.2%). According to the Dossier Statistico Immigrazione 2011, the Chinese are the fourth largest immigrant community in Italy (around 210,000). The Chinese tend to occupy specific areas of the Italian labor market: they work as manufacturers in the textile and tailoring sector. They dominate the trade sector, too, both as dependent workers and entrepreneurs. The Chinese immigrants are particularly noticeable in Tuscany (especially in the province of Prato). In various Italian cities there are so-called “Chinese districts” like Esquilino in Rome or the Via Sarpi zone in Milan. The Italian mass media, by presenting and characterizing different foreign communities, construct and spread their public image, often based on stereotypes. The Chinese are frequently presented as one of the most enterprising, mysterious and isolated group among immigrant communities. The media try to reveal their everyday lifestyle, family structures, working conditions (focusing on illegal employment in textile factories), as well as their “hidden” impact on the Italian society. The aim of this article is to present some common clichés concerning the Chinese and the most important elements of their image promoted by the Italian press.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Media in China, China in the MediaProcesses, Strategies, Images, Identities, pp. 163 - 178Publisher: Jagiellonian University PressPrint publication year: 2014