All about Pearls

Hello from the Pearl Lady!

October 29, 2006 on 1:33 pm | In Pearls, Jewelry |

Why do I call myself the pearl lady? Well, up until recently I was living in Beijing, China–home to the famous Hongqiao Pearl Market–and I became quite fascinated with the ins and outs of the pearl business as a result. China is the largest producer of freshwater pearls in the world and although the quality of their pearls was rather poor when they started pearl farming 20 years ago, they learned quickly from their mistakes and are now producing large numbers of excellent freshwater pearls every year. As a result, pearl prices have come down considerably, and beautiful pearls are now within reach of many more consumers.

A visit to the Hongqiao Pearl Market in Beijing is quite an experience. The pearl section of the market occupies three floors and consists of a multitude of small stall owners eagerly trying to sell you their wares. The sheer number of pearls there was amazing to me. A stall typically has fifty or a hundred strands of pearls on display (usually of fairly poor quality) but when you ask to see the better quality stuff, they start pulling out hundreds more to show you. Usually, after the fifth or sixth bunch they bring out, you are looking at some pretty nice merchandise. The prices are very low by western standards, particularly if you know some Chinese and bargain hard. That is certainly what I did and I even ended up taking a class on pearls when I was in Beijing so that I would know how to judge the quality of the wares I was considering buying. All in all, it proved to be a fascinating experience and after my year and a half in Beijing, I was hooked on pearls.

Technorati tags
Pearls
Jewelry
china travel
china
beijing