A Bridge between the Spiritual and the Worldly: The Puhuasi Buddhist Temple in Prato (Italy)

The chapter first provides a brief description of the main characteristics of the Chinese immigration to Prato, referring the reader to the vast literature on the subject for further analysis; then it retraces the path that led to the inauguration of the Puhuasi Chinese Buddhist Temple in Prato in 2009, highlighting how it has been integrated in the urban context; lastly, it addresses the roles played by the Puhuasi in the lives of its Chinese congregation. This last part is primarily based on in-depth interviews with 15 randomly selected Chinese frequenters of the temple in the summer of 2015