On the night of the Qixi Festival, Chinese Valentine's Day, which fell on August 22

this year, Yao Xiaofang, a 71-year-old pearl wholesaler, livestreamed until midnight, later than usual. She did so because of the extraordinary enthusiasm of her viewers. With the username Pearl Grandma on video-sharing platform Douyin, China's TikTok, she has more than 1 million fans and has gained popularity online for her profound knowledge of pearls.

Pearls, once regarded as jewels for older generations, have unexpectedly become popular among young people in China in recent years.

"I am fascinated by pearls," a young woman from Beijing surnamed Wang told National Business Daily. She further divulged she had bought three pearl necklaces and a pair of pearl earrings on one day in June at a local jewelry market. There are many young people who, like Wang, have fallen in love with pearl jewelry on social media.

On popular lifestyle and e-commerce app Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), there are more than 5 million posts related to the search term "pearl." Those born after 1990 and even 2000 are becoming the new-generation consumption force for pearls.

The growing popularity of pearl jewelry may be attributable to livestreaming. When offline sales were hampered during the COVID-19 pandemic, many wholesalers resorted to livestreaming to sell their products.

Young consumers, whose impression of pearls was limited to the strings of big round pearls worn by their mother's generation, became fascinated by the fashionable pearl jewelry displayed by livestreaming hosts. Popular pearl jewelry designs this year include necklaces made of "baby pearls," pearls less than 5 mm in diameter, and silver necklaces with a big round pearl pendant. In addition to the newly emerging styles of pearl jewelry, another factor increasing the popularity of pearls with younger generations is that they are more affordable than gold and diamond jewelry.

A jewelry designer at work at a pearl jewelry company in Shanxiahu Township, Zhuji, Zhejiang Province, on November 14, 2020 （XINHUA) 

Selling pearls online 

One town benefiting from the renewed popularity of pearls is Shanxiahu Township in Zhuji, Zhejiang Province, which has been dubbed China's pearl capital. The small township, less than 50 square km in size, produces 80 percent of China's freshwater pearls and 70 percent of those produced worldwide. Last year, sales of the township's pearl products amounted to 40 billion yuan ($5.5 billion).

The township began cultivating freshwater pearls in the early 1970s. In 1982, it established its first pearl market and in 2008, the township set up the China Pearls and Jewelry International City, which is the world's largest freshwater pearl trading market.

Yao, who runs a store in the market, told financial news magazine Yicai that the city has seen an increasing number of in-person pearl purchasers since March this year. The surging demand has also pushed up the price of pearl jewelry. "The price of some jewelry has doubled compared with last year," she said.

In recent years, the township has promoted livestreaming and e-commerce to boost pearl sales. Of the 40 billion yuan in pearl sales the township made last year, more than 25 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) was generated by online sales.

Zhan Chaoqi, General Manager of Daisu Pearl Co. in Shanxiahu, inherited the family business from his parents five years ago. One year later, in 2018, he began to try livestreaming to sell both pearls and pearl jewelry. At present, his company has more than 10 hosts and five studios, making it possible to livestream 24 hours a day. Zhan told Yicai that his company has a revenue of 30 million yuan ($4.1 million) from livestreaming every year.

Pearls from the township have also been sold overseas through livestreaming. Zhou Shiyi, a local who returned to the township after graduating from university, works as a host for Shilixian Accessory Co. Ltd. in the township. She introduces pearl products in fluent English to U.S. customers on TikTok and sometimes demonstrates the process of extracting pearls from mussels to attract viewers' attention. Her livestream has had up to 20,000 viewers watching simultaneously.

Qian Shaocong, head of the company, told People's Daily that Baroque pearls, those with irregular shapes, have been selling well overseas recently. He set up a livestreaming team of more than 10 people in 2020 and has sold pearls to countries including the U.S., the UK and Japan. He said he is planning to build warehouses overseas to shorten the logistics time and expand sales.

Industrial upgrading 

Livestreaming is just one of many methods the township has employed in recent decades to upgrade its pearl industry.

The township's pearl industry has also gone through a green transformation. In the past, local farmers pursued an extensive model of pearl farming. To improve pearl output, farmers added chicken and duck feces to their aquaculture beds, boosting the growth of algae, the food of the mussels, but also causing serious pollution to surrounding waterways.

To protect the environment, the local government issued a regulation in 2017 requiring the water quality of lakes and ponds for raising pearl mussels to reach Grade III in the country's five-tier water quality system, meaning the water is suitable for people to drink or to raise aquatic products. Farms that failed to meet this standard were shut down.

To meet the requirement, farmers have grown water plants in the lakes and ponds to use up excess nitrogen and purify the water. New technologies for growing mussels have also been developed.

Qinghu Agricultural Technology Co. in Shanxiahu has developed a new method in which nutrients are delivered directly to the mussels through holes drilled in their shells. The mussels are strung on networks of tubes suspended in the water, through which an algal nutrient solution is delivered. A computer system controls the process and decides the amount of nutrient solution to be transmitted according to factors such as the season and temperature. This method has markedly reduced pollution. The mussels themselves are also natural water purifiers as they intake dirty water and expel clean water. The township has therefore found a sustainable development path.

Thanks to these methods, the water quality of pearl farming water bodies in the township has improved from Grade V in the past to Grade III and even Grade II in some areas. The quality of pearls grown in waters with better water quality has also improved.

Moreover, the township has also enhanced the quality of pearls by upgrading the cultivating technique. The overall improvement in quality has in turn enhanced the value of pearls.

Previously, freshwater pearls artificially cultured in Zhuji had been primarily non-nucleated pearls. Such pearls are created by transplanting tiny pieces of membrane tissue from a sacrificed donor mussel into recipient mussels to stimulate pearl formation. These non-nucleated pearls are smaller in size and less round than saltwater pearls and hence their prices are only one tenth of those of saltwater pearls. Produced by introducing artificial particles such as beads around which the mussel forms a pearl, saltwater pearls are nucleated and usually reach sizes of at least 9 mm.

In 2004, Zhan Weijian, Chairman of Zhejiang Dongfang Shenzhou Pearl Group in Zhuji began leading local pearl farmers to explore techniques for the cultivation of nucleated freshwater pearls. After years of effort, the company began producing nucleated pearls in 2012.

These pearls have a diameter ranging from 9 mm to 20 mm. They are rounder than non-nucleated pearls and their luster can rival that of seawater pearls, and they can be produced at only one third of the prices. Edison Pearls, a kind of nucleated pearl produced in the township, have similar quality to world-famous saltwater pearls such as Akoya.

(Print Edition Title: Small Pearls, Big Profits) 

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson 

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