Jane Lai

    ALBERTO VETTORETTI, a native of Venice, one of the world’s most beautiful cities, now feels attached to Shenzhen after his 10-year stay here.

    “As absurd as it may appear to be, when I do travel back to Europe for business or to see my parents, after a while I do have a strange feeling of homesickness — not for Italy but for Shenzhen,” said Vettoretti, 34.

    After his first visit to Shenzhen in 1998, the Italian co-founded Dezan Shira & Associates, a tax and consulting company, and the Asia Briefing publication house. He was recently elected Pearl River Delta chapter chairman of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.

    During those early days, even the Asian financial crisis and SARS did not scare Vettoretti away, and his companies have developed into large international practices that serve multinationals investing in China, India and Vietnam.

    Although the chilling winds of the current financial market turbulence are blowing hard in the Pearl River Delta region, as the businessman said, he is staying and expanding his business here. “My companies are doing great in the city.”

    The crisis has brought about a lot of business opportunities. Simultaneously, efforts by the provincial government to implement the so-called “empty the cage and change the birds” strategy — an attempt to upgrade the industrial structure to high-end, high-tech, low-emission and greener industries — will pay off amid the crisis, he said.

    “Recently I have seen a notable improvement in air quality, and days with blue skies can now be counted using more than two hands,” said Vettoretti.

    It was Vettoretti’s months-long study in Beijing in 1994 that helped him decide China was to be part of his future. After that he worked in Shanghai and later went to the United Kingdom to obtain an MBA in Chinese law. He also studied in Guangzhou as part of his MBA course.

    “My minor in Chinese at university prepared me well for the challenges of living and working in China,” he said. “But back then I would have never imagined that today, over 10 years later, I would still be living here,” Vettoretti said.