2023-07-21 21:56:27
Milan’s Chinatown doesn’t have a pailou, a gate that marks the inside and the outside. The transition to the oldest Chinese quarter in Europe is as smooth as the sweet pearls of a bubble tea. From the Parco Sempione you walk north through narrow streets, the first Chinese lettering appears, a few steps further another one, then three. A Chinese school, a shop window with waving cats, Asian-looking women with full shopping bags, a Chinese greengrocer – the sidewalk is now very crowded – and then the main artery of Milan’s Chinatown, Via Paolo Sarpi, is reached.
They fell in love with Italian women
Why did the Chinese pioneers who came to Italy from the province of Zhejiang in the early 1920s choose Italy as their new home? Today, no one knows for sure. The forty men actually wanted to go to Paris and trade there. They were young, they fell in love with Italian women, got married and moved into houses around Via Paolo Sarpi. What happened in all parts of the Chinese diaspora followed: friends and relatives moved in over the decades, and the district took on a new, exciting, cosmopolitan face. There are institutions such as the “Yang Sheng Tang” herbal pharmacy, which caters to traditional Chinese lifestyles, or shops that have been owned by Milanese families for generations. Time seems to have stood still in them. Everything else is in flux, new bars and shops are constantly opening, dedicated to the latest trends from Asia with fashion, food, music and lifestyle products. Seoul, where the globally successful music genre K-Pop originated, sets the tone.
Sweet dreams: If you don’t grab something here, something is wrong with you. : Image: Marlon Rueberg
Milan’s Chinatown has everything a K-pop fan could desire, with the premier address being the 2046 barber shop. The name quotes a film by Wong Kar Wai – the Hong Kong director is the cinematic idol of the K-pop community. If you want to look like the stars of bands like BTS or Blackpink, you’ve come to the right place. Customers come from all over Italy and leave the store with pink, light blue or white hairdos. The “Tonk Tonk” nail studio opposite promises a more short-lived avant-garde look, where you can have your nails embellished with ornamental stones, pearls or patterns ranging from checkered to metallic.
You can do that, but you don’t have to. A must-see is the Chinese Pasticceria at Via Paolo Lomazzo 10, where you can watch the pastry chefs at work. Her absolute strength are cakes for the big occasions in life – that’s why the pasticceria is called “Mr Time”. There are always a few masterpieces of cream and sponge cake waiting to be admired or picked up in the refrigerated section: wedding cakes that are as delicate and playful as a princess palace from the Disney Studios, as well as children’s birthday cakes that honor cartoon characters.
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