Being Asian in Milan

As a Filipina living in Indiana, it’s not often that I hear my parents’ native language. However, as soon as I arrived in Milan, I was struck by how often I began hearing it. In the metro, at tram stops, in coffee shops… I could go on. 

Then, I began my internship, and I was ecstatic to find that my office was located in Milan’s Chinatown. It was the first time I had ever really felt like I was surrounded by a lot more people who looked like me, and the first time that I felt like I was seen as a person beyond just my race. In the States, where I live, as usually the only Asian or person of color in any given room, my race is often regarded as something novel and amusing for others. It gets remarked on often, and usually not in a way that indicates genuine curiosity - for example, while waiting tables in high school, I often had customers who were older men that liked to play a guessing game of where I was from, often ending the conversation by telling me that I reminded them of their ex-wives. 

However, in Milan, the prevalence of other Asians in the city has led my race to not be a defining characteristic when I meet with or talk to people. When people begin conversation, there is usually not even an assumption that I am a foreigner, and people don’t try and greet me with a “Konichiwa” or “Ni hao” - they simply say “Ciao,” which is a very welcome change from how people treat me in the States, even as a person who grew up and was raised there speaking English as my first language.  Nevertheless, this does not mean that racism is nonexistent. 

While taking my internship class, we discussed issues of racism, and while of course, my experiences as someone Asian will differ from those of other people with other racial and ethnic backgrounds, I thought I would provide a little bit of history on how Asians grew to represent such a large percentage of the Milanese population, and how racism now continues to affect Asians specifically in Milan/Italy. 

As early as the 1920s, Chinese workers began settling in Milan, and just a few decades later in 1979, Milan and Shanghai became sister cities; the first time that an Italian city ever made such a connection. With Milan already having solidified its position as a world capital for fashion, and Shanghai supporting high levels of silk production, a lot of trade occurred between the cities. As this economic and cultural relationship developed, immigration between the cities became frequent, leading to the development of Milan’s Chinatown. 

While in this part of the city, I loved how easy it was to find Asian foods and grocery stores and to be exposed to Asian fashion. Some of the bigger grocery stores I frequented included Tang Food Market and Chineat, and I especially enjoyed shopping at Tang Food Market because of the section specifically dedicated to Filipino foods. Nevertheless, there were a few things that were unexpected about this part of the city. For those familiar with American Chinatowns, most will see this as looking very different due to the European architecture that still permeates this part of the city. I also had a few friends remark that even the Asian grocery stores here seemed cleaner than most Asian grocery stores you would find in the States. Finally, I also was pretty surprised by some of the high pricing in clothing stores in this part of the city. Maybe it is a stereotype, but in my experience at least, many Asian Americans, and specifically Chinese Americans tend to be very frugal, so I was surprised to see plenty of skirts and dresses in stores all across Chinatown priced at 70-100+ euros, with hardly any clothing items being priced below 30 euros, with the exception of a few more affordable stores (Gianni Moda and AZ Fashion), which admittedly, I felt sold more Western-style clothing than traditional/ethnic styles.