Buying jewelry in Shanghai

First let me start off by saying that I love jewelry, I have a large collection that I yearly have to clean out to make room for more. I'm not particularly picky about brand names or materials, as long as it's my style and well made. Enter my last trip to Shanghai where I ended up picking out some really nice pieces. Here I'll give you my take on the jewelry market in China and what to expect as well as some advice on what to look for.

 Unless you are an Asian lady of a certain age, most of the jewelry in China will NOT be your style. China uses a lot of 24k gold because jewelry has always been a form of collateral. Up until the 1900s, the Chinese were still using golden ingots and many of the older generations are still mistrustful of paper money, preferring to convert their value into gold jewelry.

 I've never been a big fan of 24k gold jewelry, I think the pieces tend to be a little too blingy and over the top and very difficult to pare with casual clothing. The usual motifs of flowers, dragons, phoenixes are also a bit dated for the younger generation. However like I mentioned above, since jewelry is a form of collateral, such elaborate pieces are often given as wedding gifts to a young bride and groom to start their marriage off.
The center of the world's gold market is in Hong Kong and that's where a lot of the big name Asian jewelry stores originate from- Chow Tai Fook, Chow Sang Sang, and Lukfook.
Generally speaking, most people don't wear diamonds because they are extremely expensive in China (America is the cheapest place to buy diamonds), and 14k gold is very hard to find, but regardless of class, all women own a small piece of 24k gold in some form that they wear all the time and never take off. In Shanghai, a girl's 10th birthday is very important and that's usually when she's given her first piece of gold jewelry for luck. She will also receive nice jewelry when she turn 20, 30, 50, 60, 70, and 80, because those are considered "big birthdays" where the family will gather for a banquet and give out red envelopes.


When I was in Shanghai I noticed my cousin and a lot of young women there wearing macrame bracelets entwined with 24k gold beads called lu lu tongs. Literally translated it means "clear path" or "obstacle remover", the idea behind it is that when worn, the bracelet will clear the obstacles in the wearer's path. The most popular color is red because it's the ultimate good luck color, but they also come in black, brown and green.

Most people usually have two beads and then string a charm in the middle. You can also add other crystal beads, the variations are endless but the common factor is that it must have at least two gold beads and be strung on string. Don't worry about your string wearing out because getting it restrung is very easy and cheap in China. Which leads me to how gold is bought in China.

So basically 24k gold is bought according to what the market price is, however, if you go to a "designer" jewelry store like Chow Tai Fook or Chow Sang Sang (the two most popular in Shanghai), their prices tend to be more expensive than the regular market price. So right now, since the price of gold has dropped, it's around $40 per gram, if you go to a designer jeweler, they will charge around $50-60 per gram, in addition, they also charge a "labor cost" of around 150 rnb (around $25). The price of whatever piece you desire is then calculated by weight. I know, it sounds really complicated, but trust me, it's pretty intuitive and they lay it all out for you. Most jewelry stores also have a trade-in policy where you can bring any old 24k gold you have and they'll add it to the cost of your piece, but every store has different specifications and rules regarding trade-ins, so you have to ask them about their policy.

I had my heart set on a lu lu tong but didn't know what I wanted. However, I believe that the best pieces find you and I stumbled across a little gold and red enameled pixiu at the Shanghai dept store, and I knew I had to have him.

Pixius are very popular in China, it's a mythological creature that is the ninth son of the dragon king, it's supposed to bring wealth and fortune because their diet consists of silver and gold. Many people have statuettes of them in their homes or offices, and in the past, emperors have built them atop their funereal gate so that the pixius will eat money for the emperor so he can have funds in his afterlife.

I had mine strung on brown string because I wanted a more muted color but red is super popular.

This is what he looks like on, it's not too bulky and I wear it all the time. The bracelet behind it was a birthday present from my mom a while back and I never take that off either. I was in a hurry in putting it back on, but technically the pixiu is supposed to face outwards and NOT inwards the body because you want them to go out and eat wealth for you. He's also hollow inside, which can be a problem if you wear it all the time since 24k gold is very soft, however, he's made with "hard" gold, which is 4x harder than regular gold.

If 24k gold is not your thing, then I recommend picking up something 18k before you leave because it's a better bargain than what it would be in the US. China has a surprising amount of 18k rose gold which is really popular right now, however bear in mind that the styles are a little...asian-y and you'll have to browse to find a piece that isn't too fresh off the boat.

I got this rose gold moon and stars necklace in Shanghai, it was so cute and I'd been lusting after it for the longest, so my boyfriend took pity on me and got it for me. Generally most 18k jewelry averages $100-200, which is a good price considering it's 18k. The price is substantially less than what you would pay in the US and most US jewelers don't carry 18k unless they are higher end like Tiffany's, Cartier or Bulgari.

Also if you are ever in Shanghai or Hong Kong, there is a LOT of designer replica styles that you should check out which is decently priced. I don't mean the cheap looking $2 Chanel earrings you get in Chinatown (though they do have a ton of that), but actual good quality replica designs in 18k gold. I saw a lot of 18k rose gold keys made a la Tiffany's style but averaging around $200-300 which is MUCH cheaper than the real thing. They also had Cartier's love bracelet and Bulgari replicas all in 18k gold and significantly cheaper.

So if you are ever in China, definitely check out the gold because it's a very good gram for dollar price. If you are interested in any other forms of jewelery in Shanghai or China, I'll have to do a separate post about that because semiprecious gems are also a big market.