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An estimated 40,000 Chinese, both legal residents and illegals, areliving in the Italian town of Prato, not far from Florence. Theyconstitute a quarter of the town's population and are one of thebiggest concentrations of Chinese in Europe. Most come from onetown in China, Wenzhou near Shanghai. Nearly all are involvedin manufacturing textiles and cheap clothes on a huge scale -producing up to one million garments a day. In recent months,tensions in Prato between Italian residents and the Chinese havespiked with accusations that the migrants aren't playing by therules. A simple Italian phrase explains why so many Chinese have come toPrato. It's "Pronto Moda" or Fast Fashion. A sprawling industrial zone on the edge of town has dyeingfactories, workshops and warehouses. From here, cheap clothes madeby the Chinese, but with the all-important "Made in Italy" label,are shipped across the world. Financial journalist Silvia Perrachi has written about how Chineseimmigrants have taken over industry in Prato. "Today, the Chinese industry in Prato actually contains the entiresupply chain - from buying the fabrics in China, importing theminto Italy, cutting them, dyeing them, assembling the pieces andselling them directly to the retail outlets," Perrachi noted. When the first Chinese arrived here 30 years ago, they werewelcomed as new investors. Now Prato is turning against theChinese. Once clearly left wing, the town swung to the right andthe anti-immigrant Northern League in last year's municipalelections. Tensions have been escalating ever since a series of police raidson factories allegedly employing illegal immigrants. Authoritiessay many Chinese are working in sweatshop-like conditions thatbreak European laws, and that many businesses don't pay taxes. VOA obtained photographs, taken earlier this year inside onefactory. None of the factory owners allowed VOA to film in theirworkshops. VOA also tried to speak with a distributor. She refused to speak oncamera, but said the Chinese community is living in fear. Prato's Mayor is Roberto Cenni. His family has a long history intextiles. He says the raids were justified. "The figures from May this year show that we had to close 154factories for illegal activity," noted Cenni. "And to close acompany it means there were illegal activities of a grave nature -criminal acts. So it's clear we need a definitive answer to thissituation." Many Chinese here say the raids were staged to appease right-wingmedia and politicians. They say they are the victims ofdiscrimination. Lin Xia has lived in Prato for 20 years and has built a smallbusiness empire. He spoke to us in Italian. "I understand there is a need to regulate this industry, but I'mnot happy about the way they're doing it," he said. "Forexample when they close the factories, it's not being done legally.They arrest the illegal immigrants and release them after a fewhours but they aren't allowed back into their homes for a month. Sothey're left on the street with nothing to eat, nowhere to sleep." Prato's history in textiles stretches back centuries; it even has amuseum devoted to textiles. But as Italian companies havestruggled, the Chinese have prospered. Italian businessmen herebelieve the Chinese are exploiting Prato's reputation. Maurizio Bonas set up the organization 'Made in Italy' to protectthe image of Italian goods. He says every nation must fight toprotect its culture. "We have to defend the factories in Europe," said Bonas. "Wehave to defend the people who are working here. We must not keepthinking of helping the others and to not see what is happening inour home." In many ways Prato is a microcosm of the challenges facing Europe:an historic place with proud traditions, now threatened by new waysin a changing world. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Heat Transfer Print Lanyard , China Custom Keychain Lanyard for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Polyester Lanyard.
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