'Madrileños' 'made in China'

The bare light bulb is reflected in the teacher's highly polished nails, one of which she points at the map. "See? This is Zhe Jian." It's no more than a tiny dot on a vast coastline. But it is the origin of most of the 46,000-strong Chinese community in Madrid.

Of Madrid's foreign communities, including Romanians, Moroccans and Ecuadoreans, only the Chinese continues to grow. There are more than 25,000 in the Usera neighborhood alone, where they have established a close-knit social network, with entire apartment blocks home only to Chinese. In one such block lives Wei, a wedding photographer. His daughter María, aged 10, was born here, and is doing well at school. Her parents encourage her by giving her 10 euros every time she gets top marks for her homework.

María speaks Spanish like a native, but is also fluent in Mandarin. Near Wei's apartment is the Zhong Hua bookshop, which sells Chinese books, magazines and newspapers, and even pornography, some of it imported, some of it printed in Europe for the continent's Chinese community.

Nicol is 18, and arrived in Spain four years ago. She works in a clothes shop, and like growing numbers of young Chinese, has broken with tradition and has left home before marrying. She likes to spend her free time in Bubble Tea, a Taiwanese fashion chain that started out in New York, and has now set up a franchise in Madrid run by Siyan, a young entrepreneur, and his wife. Nicol also hangs out in the karaoke bars in Leganés. "It's where most young Chinese like to hang out," she says. Every weekend, in Madrid's other dormitory towns, places like Parla and Fuenlabrada, Chinese DJs can be heard in nightclubs and private parties.

Surprisingly perhaps, given their reputation for hard work, the Chinese in Madrid tend to get up late, around 10am, and eat at the same time as Spaniards, often not dining until well after 10pm, and hitting the sack around 2.30am. Gradually their diet is adapting to the limitations of Spain, although they are still able to eat fresh seafood. "I just go to the local supermarket to buy normal stuff, like everybody else," says Eva, who is studying law, but is unlikely to go to university.

"When my little brother gets to university age, my parents will only be able to afford to pay for one of us, and they will choose him."

Most of the time, they eat where they work. "We older people have no free time. Maybe a few moments in the bar, and then it's work, work, work," explains Wei. At midday, the shutters may be down, but inside Madrid's Chinese-run shops, work goes on, even on Sundays. When they are not working, the city's Chinese community likes to eat out, and Madrid's Chinese restaurants are full of families eating together. Like their hosts, they also like to take advantage of holidays, and have a particular fondness for Saint Valentine's Day.

It is unusual to see older people from the Chinese community. And it isn't that they die young. The explanation is simple, as María points out. "My granny has gone back to China to be looked after." Faced with health problems, the Chinese prefer to return home for medical treatment. "It is much cheaper and what's more you can understand what the doctors are telling you. That's why there are never any Chinese funerals in Madrid," she adds.

The Chinese community has also been able to continue buying property, despite the economic downturn and the difficulties in accessing mortgages. Bafre is a real estate firm employing seven Chinese and one Spaniard. "The Chinese are very serious about repaying their debts. They ask for low mortgages because they have already saved up a substantial amount, and they usually get help from the family," says one employee at Bafre.

The "accountant" lives in a nearby apartment with his wife and two children, where he has his office in a spare room. He explains that he has bought his home, but upstairs, "there are plenty of people renting out rooms. It depends on how well off they are, but people don't mind sharing, it's cheaper."

There are few problems between neighbors, he explains, despite the close living quarters. "We respect each other's privacy," says Ye, a young entrepreneur.