Hunting for pearls? Try Weitang
- By Rūta Klimašauskaite and Keen Zhang
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China.org.cn / Radio86.com, January 19, 2011
In Suzhou's Weitang, a quiet town a couple of hours from Shanghai, lies the cradle of China's freshwater pearl industry. Known as the "home of pearls," Weitang has more than 1,000 pearl farmers harvesting mussels in waters that cover 65,800 acres of the town. In 2010, the pearl industry employed 30,000 people in the town.
Pearls may range from cheap to insanely expensive in the West, but here in Weitang, less expensive pearl prices have been a boon for the economy. Last year, Weitang's pearl industry brought in 3.5 billion yuan (US$530 million), while local jewelry sales surged despite the global economic downturn.
In the Pearl Gem City compound, a sprawling 45,000-square-meter complex housing a number of pearl farms and a mall of jewelry shops, visitors can get a glimpse into the pearl cultivation process. Farmers harvest their mussels from a small boat, with each mussel producing between 15 and 30 pearls.
Growing the pearls is a lengthy process. It takes about six years for a mussel to grow one average-sized (8 millimeters in diameter) freshwater pearl. Natural disasters and pollution pose a risk to every harvest, as conditions must remain constant for mussels to survive and pearls to grow.
Once mussels are taken out of the water and opened, they die. Then the pearls are removed and cleaned. The other parts of the mussel are also used for a variety of purposes. The meat can be eaten, and the shell can be used to make jewelry or ground into powder to make beauty products. Add a spoonful of the powder to honey and milk and apply to the face for an instant face-lift.
The best pearls, according to one pearl shop owner, are perfectly round with a very high luster and only minor imperfections on less than 10 percent of their surface. Pearls are categorized into four classes — A, B, C and D — with D pearls having significantly more defects than the higher classes and thus the lowest prices.
"Westerners do not care really about the quality so much," said Jenny, who owns a pearl shop. "They just want interesting designs."
Customers can order custom-made jewelry, and often shopkeepers have more than one store and can usually find the right jewelry size or pearl quality to suit their desires.
Photo courtesy of Radio86.com
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