I'm looking for research ideas involving Italy and China?

Question

I am a college student that is looking for ideas for a multicultural research project to conduct in both Rome and Bejing, China. If I can come up with a good project, I might be able to get my trip to Rome and Bejing paid for. The project can be basically anything I want to research as long as it involves both cultures, since my school has campuses in both Italy and China. I'm wondering if anyone has any insight into contemporary issues facing both countries, in politics or religion or anything, I willing to research just about anything. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Answer 1

I think it would be really interesting to look at the role of the son in Italian and Chinese family life. In Italy, there are sooo many men who are 35+ years old, still living at home with mom and dad. Their moms do EVERYTHING for them! I think there's an expression called "mamone" or something, which translates to "big mothers". I've always thought that in China the children became more independent at a younger age, but then returned to the family home and supported their elderly parents. I think these issues relate primarily to the male children in the family.

Answer 2

In the press recently there has been a lot of talk about how Chinese business are setting up shop in Italy, hiring Chinese labourers and then sending then selling the goods in Italy. This has created small enclaves of Chinese communities, mainly in the Italian industrial north. There are a lot of business implications for the two countries as many Chinese learn about business, learn the language and then return to China and start up shop there and then export back to Italy since they know the language, etc.

There are also issues of child labor and unfair working conditions of these Chinese communities in Italy also. I think it would warrant some decent research. Also recent tariffs slapped by Rome on Chinese goods as a way of protecting industries in Italy which are famous for their designer goods.

So I guess you could look at the issues that plague Chinese businesses trying to export to Italy as well as look at what issues plague Italian businesses trying to export to China.

There are lots of scenarios. If you can read Italian, you'll find a lot of information on Italian newspapers. I copied some articles in the source box that might be helpful to you.

Another good project might be integration of Chinese into Italian daily life. This is a huge issue in Italy right now, especially with the murder of a Pakistani woman by her family for refusing to return to Pakistan for her arranged marriage.

Dunno if my ideas were helpful.
Good luck.

Answer 3

China is having a strong impact on Italian manufacturing, especially in the Textiles and fashion worlds. Many Italian companies, the small ones, had to close because of the Chinese competition. The large ones (most Designers and even Bennetton), simply moved their production to China. You could study this and how it will effect both economies in the future.

Answer 4

child birth, child birthing laws....number of children per family...sorta along that line...how the culture of having children differs so greatly in both countrys and what exactly influences it.

OR

why the architechural(spellcheck) structures of the buildings are so different(i mean from way back in the day)...why are the buildings that were built 100s of years ago built that way or differently

OR

whose culture can be tracked back furthest in time

OR

life expectancy of chinamen bs. italian men
based on.....cultural something or another

OR

Where are china's beliefs vs. Italys cultural beliefs leading them in the future(for example...boys are more valued in china...so I do believe that there are more boys being born or at least kept in the family-that's gonna cause some trouble in the future)

Answer 5

A very intersting and crucial topic is a study involving population growth and the way each culture is responding the demands of the increase of life expectancy and the need for resources and land development.

Answer 6

Marco Polo's trade visits to china from italy should be good fodder for traveling between the two places.