Roundup: China means better business, higher quality of life for many Italians

As the Chinese economy grows, Italian business operators, like their peers in many other countries, find China a promising market, while many ordinary Italians are witnessing a greater quality of life thanks to Chinese products.

Monica Forcella, who runs a family business selling quality coffee, said when she took over the business in 2007, she did not see that one day she could export her products to China.

"I started a collaboration with my importer in Shanghai about one and half years ago, and now I can say that I have built a friendly relation with her," Forcella told Xinhua.

Chinese consumers are curious and open-minded, said Forcella, an agronomist who has grown up breathing the aroma of coffee at the family workshop.

"We pay attention to every single detail in order to achieve the best quality, and we feel understood and appreciated by the Chinese market. In fact it is not just business but also a pleasure to deal with our Chinese customers," she said.

Mirca Sgaravato, sales manager at an Italian jewelry company, also expanded her business to the Asian giant.

"We are a small company which was able to enter the Chinese market thanks to new technologies in China," she told Xinhua over the phone from China's southern city of Guangzhou, where she was on a business trip to meet a local e-commerce partner.

"Managing to enter the Chinese market has been a great success and it has changed my life," Sgaravato said.

While some Italian businesses have been extending their presence in China, some local-based industries are also making efforts to attract more Chinese customers.

"These days we are closing an important agreement with a Chinese business group... so as to woo more affluent Chinese travelers," said Luca Patane, president of Uvet Group, one of Italy's leading operators of business travels and peripheral activities.

"It is the first joint venture between Italy and China in Italy's tourism sector and it is set to bring huge benefit not only for our group, but more importantly for the Italian economy," said Patane.

Meanwhile, outside business circles, many ordinary Italians feel that they too have benefited from China's economic development.

"From my personal experience, I must say that I have seen up close the benefits that this development has brought," said Edda Righi, a 61-year-old retired government worker.

"Just to give a small example, my mother, an elderly pensioner, can buy silk blouses, pajamas and duvets at accessible prices," Righi said.

But inexpensive goods are only a small part of Righi's China story.

The part that delights her most, she told Xinhua, are the young people she knows who are working in the country.

"My nephew has been teaching Italian for two years now and with much satisfaction in a school in Beijing," Righi said, "while the son of a friend of mine, an architect, was offered an internship in a design studio in Shanghai where he was able to see in person urban development and innovative architecture in a modern and friendly city." Endi