- Title: CHINA: Chinese-made pearls look to shine on world stage
- Date: 29th June 2008
- Summary: (L!2) ZHUJI, ZHEJIANG PROVINCE, CHINA (RECENT) (REUTERS) PEARL CULTIVATION LAKE PEARL FARMER BOATING IN LAKE FARMER PADDLING IN A SMALL BOAT BUOYS FLOATING ON LAKE FARMER CHECKING CLAMS UNDER THE BUOY (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) WU ZHIYUAN, PEARL FARMER, SAYING: "I have been working in this industry for more than 20 years, nearly 30 years. In earlier days, we didn't work for a pearl company; it was just a family business. Now we are under the management of the pearl company.
- Embargoed: 14th July 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: Environment / Natural World
- Reuters ID: LVA7BA1DWDBCNQ3PF7LOTVP3EIS5
- Story Text: The eastern Chinese city of Zhuji hopes to become the biggest international production and distribution hub for artificially cultivated freshwater pearls.
For centuries the eastern Chinese city of Zhuji has taken pride in its pristine environment, moderate climate and clear waters.
And these factors have also contributed to the city's push to become a hub for the worldwide cultivation of freshwater pearls.
A pearl farmer rows his small boat across this lake in Zhuji, carefully checking on the freshwater oysters, or locally referred to as molluscs, that hold the fortune for his family.
52-year-old pearl farmer Wu Zhiyuan (pron: woo-chee-yuan) has been working on cultivating freshwater pearls for the last 30 years.
And he knows the clean water in the rivers, lakes and ponds in this area; contain the secret to the success of China's pearl city.
Though pearls are naturally formed when a foreign substance invades the shell of the molluscs entering the soft mantle tissue, techniques introduced in the 1900s have enabled farmers around the world to cultivate pearls artificially.
The origins of the manmade pearl industry come from Japan, but China soon caught up to the international stage in the 1960s, by flooding the world with huge quantities of cheaply cultivated pearls.
However, the quality of the initial Chinese pearls was not up to world standards.
So China began to research and development how to produce high-quality pearls at a low-cost.
Today, China is outpacing Japan in terms of the quantity its cultivated pearls and some say the quality as well.
China's success has pushed global pearl prices to record lows, but at the same time making them more affordable for the masses.
And Wu said this pearl revolution has also changed the way of life for peal farmers in Zhuji.
Now the farms in the city work under the management of pearl companies who pride themselves on being able to produce, distribute as well as sell their pearls in the domestic and world markets.
"I have been working in this industry for more than 20 years, nearly 30 years. In earlier days, we didn't work for a pearl company, it was just a family business. Now we are under the management of the pearl company," Wu said.
To artificially cultivate a freshwater pearl, a small piece of mantle tissue has to be inserted from one mollusc into another. Thereafter, this freshwater mollusc will defend itself by secreting layering nacre around the "invading tissue" that will eventually form a pearl.
The advantage of cultivation is that the process can produce many more pearls than its natural saltwater counterparts.
On an average, farmers said an artificially cultivated mollusc can produce upwards of 30 to 40 pearls, compared to just a handful of pearls from a mollusc found in the wild.
Today, pearl trading is a major industry in Zhuji.
More than 3,000 pearl cultivation companies have set up base in the city, producing up to 30 million pieces of pearl jewellery every year.
Pearl cultivation farms occupy more than 250 million square meters in the area, with some focusing on research and development for the pearl companies.
Proud Zhuji employees of these companies said they attributed this success to the protection of the natural environment for pearl cultivation here.
"Due to the prosperous industrialisation in Jiangsu province, especially in the area to the south of the Yangtze River, the water for pearl cultivation was polluted to some extent. We used to do the pearl cultivation there earlier on, but now we do the cultivation here and we are currently ahead of them," said Shou Tianguang (pron: show-teeann-gooang), office director for Zhejiang Shanxiahu Group Co. Ltd, a local pearl cultivation company.
And the scale of pearl trading production is just about to get bigger here.
In April 2008, the major pearl companies in mainland China and Hong Kong have joined forces to open the nation's largest pearl trading centre, the China Pearls and Jewellery City (CP&J City) in Zhuji.
Officials said the massive complex occupies an area of 1.2 million square metres and will be home to more than 5,000 shops when it is completed this fall.
Looking at pearl cultivation as a growing industry in China, CP&J City executives said China aims to have a stranglehold in the sector.
"The labour cost for pearl cultivation in China is comparatively low. After China got involved in the pearl industry, Japan could no longer compete with China in the pricing or any other aspects. In terms of technology, mainland China was not as advanced as Hong Kong in the past. But mainland China has gradually caught up with Japan and stepped into an international level. As a result, the pearls made in China are pretty and cheap as well," said CP&J City's executive director, Lin Xianfu (pron: lin-seeann-foo).
With the vision of developing Zhuji into an international pearl capital, the city is also looking to attract international brands to set up shop in the complex, promising a one-stop shop service for any company looking to invest in Chinese pearls. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None