The Italians in Chinese Eyes
«Italians are noisy, enterprising with women, they often lose face, but recover it effortlessly. In the end, they are nice people, they are food-lovers and dress fashionably." This is a mix between stereotyping and actual acquaintances cemented through face-to-face meetings, texting and social media contacts. Add to that school reminiscences about the Jesuit Matteo Ricci or Marco Polo, the two Italians who first visited China from the West.
The basic attitude of the Chinese towards foreigners, and indeed anything that's different or new is great openness and curiosity, perhaps joined by a sense of superiority due to the country's millennial culture and civilization and its centuries of imperial hegemony. The breakneck growth the country has experienced over the last decades has practically erased all the defeats and humiliations suffered by China in the course of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century.
For the Chinese, foreigners are almost by definition strange, if not a bit crazy. When they behave contrary to local custom they are tolerated because they grew up in a non-Chinese world, which is considered barbaric, so to speak. The same criterion applies to Italians, who are perceived mostly in favorable terms for their culture, art, landscape, fashion, cuisine, and a few instances of industrial prowess. At the same time, certain characteristics of the Italians are frowned upon: they don't have self-control, they speak too directly, without being subtle as they should, and they are too impatient. In other words, they tend to lose face easily.
A major cultural difference is the attitude of young men towards young women. It's unlikely for a Chinese man to take the initiative, especially if the woman in question is a foreigner, for bear of being rejected and shamed. The rich and powerful who think they can do as they please are the exception to the norm. It's well known an Italian young man usually manages to get a date with a Chinese young woman, while Italian women do not receive the same attention from Chinese men while being very appreciated (it's the usual problem of fearing to lose face).
But going to back to Italians living in China, there are about 10,000 permanently residing there (they were 7,000 in 2012). According to a recent study by the Migrantes Foundation, they are mostly young (60% under 45 years of age; only 3% over 65) and educated: four out of five have a college degree and know Chinese (although one should remember that while the written language is unified across the country, the spoken language varies from province to province); 25% of them come from Lombardy, followed by Venetia, Piedmont and Latium. They tend to reside in the most developed areas of the country: Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing. What are their occupations? A third of them studies or does research there, a third works for an Italian firm based in China, a little more than 10% for a Chinese company, and another 10% are self-employed.
Cultural stereotyping reinforced by local education and media co-exist with more fine-tune opinion based on actual Italians met at work. In general, in China there is sympathy for Italians. Naturally one should keep in mind that China, and especially Chinese young people, are changing fast: globalization, growing relations with foreign countries and international tourism have all modified established values and attitudes: the (recently reformed) single-child policy has almost reversed traditional Confucian deference in parents-children relations: the latter are more disrespectful and more inclined to behavior that is cause of shame for the former.