Milan's Chinatown

Milan's Chinatown is centred at Via Paolo Sapri, a crowded working class district. As usual, there are many Chinese shops, but most of them are trading companies doing whole sales business in garments and shoes. There are a few small Chinese convenient stores selling limited number of Chinese food stuff. Chinese restaurants are also rare. This is a stark contrast to Sydney's Chinatown, where you can find almost everything you can find back in China. Cantonese-style Tea Houses are aplenty, you never need to worry about how you can satisfy your tasty buds.

Chinatown is quite self-sufficient. There are property agents, travel agents, immigration agents along the street. The basic needs of a new immigrant should all bet met here. There is even a Xin Hua Bookstore in the middle of the street, selling publications from mainland China.

It is said that Chinatown is very crowded on Saturdays, but when I was there on Sunday today, almost all the shops were closed. Some Chinese lingering around the street. As I understand, there had been some unrest in the Chinatown in recent months due to conflict with the police. Here is the BBC report on the event: Milan police in Chinatown clash

Overall, Milan's Chinatown is a let-down for me. I don't get what I want here. My craving for Chinese food, especially Cantonese food is not satisfied.

To get to Chinatown, you can take Tram #4 outside Cairoli Metro station. It is a 10-min ride.