Chinese in Rome observe subdued New Year amid recession

 ROME, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese families living in Rome spent less money for this year's Lunar New Year celebrations as the ailing global economy cast a shadow on their business.

    Though this year marks the Year of the Ox, the New Year mood is not bullish at all for Chinese nationals in Rome, with most of them choosing to remain in the Italian capital rather than go back to China.

    It is a sober Spring Festival, said many shopkeepers living in the Esquilino neighborhood, Rome's "China Town."

    Victoria Wang, who runs a small clothes shop in downtown Rome, celebrated the New Year alone.

    "I spent only 100 euros in total this year for Spring Festival," she told Xinhua, saying the amount was less than one-fourth that of past years.

    "Last year I was able to go back home to visit my parents in China, but now with the economic crisis and less people buying things, my business went down and I have no money to buy the air tickets," said Wang, who has lived in Rome for the past 10 years.

    She said she was not even able to participate in the celebrations organized at the Esquilino because she could not "afford to close the shop."

    "Taxes are high and I have a lot of expenditures," she sighed.

    A young Chinese herbalist said his sales had fallen some 50 percent compared with last year, while another countryman selling Italian wine agreed that his business had also shrunk this year.

    On Monday, the first day of the Lunar New Year, a small celebration parade was held in Rome, followed by performances by artists who had come in from China.

    The Esquilino Chinese celebrations, running for a week until next Monday, have been organized by Mediazione Sociale, a detaching office of the Rome city council involved in the promotion of social and cultural integration.

    Leonardo Carocci, the office director, said there had not been "a massive participation of the Chinese community" in this year's festivities.

    According to The Europe-China Times, a Chinese-language newspaper distributed in Rome, the economic crisis and the devastating earthquake in southwest China last May prompted the Chinese community to give more financial help to reconstruction this year rather than hold big celebrations

    The community has contributed some 30,000 euros (38,400 U.S. dollars) to organize the New Year festivities, which is a lot lower than the expenses of past years, the newspaper said.

    The Chinese makes up the fourth largest foreign community in Italy. A report published jointly by the International Organization for Migration and the Italian Internal Affairs Ministry showed there are several thousand Chinese currently live in Rome.