cover image Meet Me in Venice: A Chinese Immigrant's Journey

Meet Me in Venice: A Chinese Immigrant's Journey

Suzanne Ma. Rowman & Littlefield, $26.95 (192p) ISBN 978-1-4422-3936-4

Chinese Canadian journalist Ma tackles the hot subject of immigration with her sensitive portrayal of a young woman who makes her way to northern Italy from Qingtian, a barren mountain town in the Zhejiang Province of China. According to the author, many Qiantianese are "drawn to Italy's textile and manufacturing industries" centered in Prato, "home to the highest percentage of Chinese in Europe," where they are the linchpin of factories owned and run by fellow Chinese %C3%A9migr%C3%A9s. With 300,000 registered Chinese, they now rank as the fourth largest immigrant group in Italy. Ma connects with Ye Pei in 2011 when she's a 16-year-old high school student in China and follows her to the Italian town of Solesino where she endures long hours working at a bar resolving to earn money for her parents to retire. Ma reconstructs Pei's move to Italy, recounting the bumps of culture shock such as the struggle of mastering a new language with a different writing system. The author, who grew up in Chinese household but identifies as a Western, includes her own personal grappling with identity and cultural heritage. However she is most compelling when recounting Ye Pei's story of self-sacrifice is the strength that she derives from the nuclear family as it reunites in a new country. That said, the reader will never view the "Made in Italy" label in the same way again. Photos. (Feb.)