In Rome’s Chinatown, the Blue Skies travel agency is selling more one-way tickets to China than returns. The manager of the Mei Dan beauty parlour says Canada is the new dream, while the Golden Home property agency reports falling prices as immigrants sell up and leave.
“Many, many Chinese are going back home,” says Sonia Fen, a restaurant owner and television celebrity who has lived in Italy for 21 years. “No business and no work. It is a terrible situation.”
As quietly as they began to arrive in large numbers a decade ago, the Chinese community is slipping away, the many “for sale” signs posted on closed-up shops around Rome’s Piazza Vittorio a testament to their exodus. Although Canada is a fresh destination for a minority, China’s rapidly expanding economy is also beckoning.