LITTLE TIANJIN BREVE VIAGGIO ALLA SCOPERTA DELL’ITALIA DI CINA, TRA ARCHITETTURA ART-DECÒ E SPAGHETTI ALLA CARBONARA

If you think that one of the strangest feelings that a person can try is to find himself thrust into a place far away from its language, food habits , customs, environment and architecture, you are definitely out of the way . Never feeling was in fact more alienating for an Italian miles away from home to find himself suddenly and inadvertently back home . In the guise of a character in Italy in miniature , at times grotesque and caricature , paradoxically large proportions .

This is the strange feeling that you try setting foot for the first time in the Italian concession in Tianjin City . Tianjin, Tianjin known in the West , is historically one of the closest cities to the Western culture in all of China . What is defined as the port of Beijing has opened its doors to trade with the other world , in particular with the British fleet , since 1800 . Was only later, in 1901 , following the help received from various Western countries , including Italy, in the fight against the uprising of the Boxers were granted portions of land on the basis of diplomatic missions to the east. After the Second World War with the Treaty of Paris, Italy , however, had to give up his license.

But in Tianjin, in the heart of China, is still breathing an atmosphere that is at the same time for an Italian family and alienating. At the entrance of the Italian neighborhood we were greeted by a huge sign ” Italian Style Town” in wrought iron. The neighborhood of Liberty and inspiration distinctly art-deco , unfolds through a series of well-marked paths that bring our footprint . And not just for the names of the streets , Piazza Dante in Corso Vittorio Emanuele III Carlotto Avenue , named after the Italian hero fallen in the war against the Chinese revolutionaries . No, the Little Italy of China is a veritable candy resting on the city. Just around the corner to find himself in a unique Piazza Regina Elena leads to the center a monument to victory in style anything but Chinese. A little ‘ more in there , right in front of the restaurant ” Nuovo Cinema Paradiso ” , Chinese grooms let themselves be photographed in front of a fountain of white marble. Obviously the economy of this place so special seems to revolve all around tourism and entertainment industry . Dozens and dozens of restaurants with outdoor seating , where Chinese waiters in white shirts and pants blacks , offer a menu where all’avventore carbonara and salad are the masters . And the Chinese , on a sunny Sunday in May do not seem to resist the charm of an Italy that is at hand . Throngs of tourists strolling showing off the gondolier ‘s hat just bought , candy floss between the hands , extricating between stalls selling Venetian masks and biographies of Matteo Ricci, the first Italian to be entered in the very heart of China and the Chinese. But it is not only because of the architecture and the landscape that you have the inexplicable feeling of being at home. Here in Tianjin the friendliness of the people to forget the easy superficiality that often characterizes the hectic and hurried attitude of Beijing . And Italian is said to be a safe mat to make sure benevolent smiles and curious. Like that of the old woman who sells junk that makes you space on his stool to tell his son who lives and works in Italy and now has not seen for a long time , hopes that she and her husband have placed in him and what he has placed in our country. Or the ladies on the bus that studies the language of Dante from an old book on which the pre-war attempts to illustrate the intonation of the spoken through our patterns and lines. It amazes know that they are still a large number of Chinese who study Italian in hope, that we have all the air to be paradoxical , to find a job that will take them to live in what is still considered – yes, a reason – the Bel Paese.