Rather than an invasion, what we are seeing is an unprecedented integration process, perhaps the only one of its kind in Italy. Bolzano has seen a gradual growth in registered Chinese-run businesses but they are distributed across the city, just like the homes of the Chinese, which are certainly not all located in the same areas. The Chinese community doesn't appear that closed either. There are people like Massimo that plan to stay in Bolzano rather than return to China (as is the tradition when reaching retirement age), or Hongling, who tells us that she has acquired self-awareness and freedom of thought here and isn't sure if she could live the same way in China, and Yanghui who describes himself as a fully-fledged Bolzanino and prefers to serve Bratwurst in a kiosk than continue his parents' traditional restaurant business.



What we have discovered in these months of research is how it is the young that are guiding the Chinese community towards a "new tradition" in which the generations clash and values are mixed together, giving rise to new forms of identity. Ice cream shops, delis and hairdressers are opening up and, at the same time, researchers and university students are enjoying academic success because of their determination rather than subsidies or assistance. As Ju Wu reveals, compared with the first generation, the young Chinese have all been educated.



So why has this talk of a Chinese invasion spread among the population? One possible answer is because the majority of Chinese businesses work in close contact with the public, meaning they are much more visible than other communities. As reiterated by Ju Wu or Mouzhi, there are a number of factors that distort our day-to-day perception of the Chinese. First and foremost the economic aspect: they came to Bolzano to improve their quality of life, making enormous sacrifices and opening businesses thanks to loans from friends and relatives that they must now pay off. This leads many to work seven days a week, twelve hours a day, severely limiting their ability to integrate with the local population.



We are slowly witnessing a change in the community, which is increasingly integrated in the local fabric, helping to bust the myth that it is closed and impenetrable. The integration process is neither quick nor easy, particularly if we consider how Bolzano is a place with a dual cultural identity in which the two communities often still lead parallel existences. Despite this, it is an atypical Italian city with great potential that could open the way to new forms of co-existence, and not just between Chinese and Italians.