China Pearl Farms | Liusha Gang & Zhuji Pearls

Regional Chinese Pearl Production

China has harvested freshwater pearls for many centuries in the 'zhuji' of China. World production and cultivation of freshwater pearls is dominated by the Chinese, who grown the mollusks in lakes, rivers, and ponds within the Zhejiang coastal region (aka "the hometown of pearl").

These Chinese pearls are sometimes referred to as "Biwa" pearls, named after their freshwater Japanese counterparts from Lake Biwa, Japan. To produce a freshwater pearl, a small piece of mantle tissue from one mussel is placed into another mussel. This mantle tissue constitutes a foreign object or irritant in the gonad of the oyster that the mollusk will defend against by secreting nacre.

China's saltwater 'Akoya' Pearl farms are located on the Leizhou Peninsula in Guangdong Province (aka Canton Province), and in Guangxi Province at Beihai & Hepu, both in the southern part of the country. The Guangdong saltwater pearl farms are situated in a protected bay at Liusha Gang, some 400 km south-west of Hong Kong and Macau.

Freshwater mollusks can produce significantly larger quantities of nucleated pearls (up to 50) than their saltwater counterparts, making them an ideal choice from a production standpoint. Akoya, or saltwater mollusks, will only tolerate a maximum of 4 to 5 nucleations in their gonad tissue. The Chinese are now using a 'saltwater culturing technique' on freshwater mussels, by nucleating freshwater mollusks with 'shell nuclei,' implanting in the mantle and body of the animal.

Chinese Freshwater Pearls

The quantity of Chinese freshwater pearls (aka sweet water pearls) produced today far exceeds that of Akoya saltwater pearls, and as a result of this production disparity, freshwater pearls are now significantly cheaper. Chinese freshwater pearls that are small and oblong shaped and are known as "rice pearls." Chinese freshwater pearls are also produced in "near-round" and "round" shapes.

In Chinese freshwater pearl cultivation, sheath tissue is implanted instead of a seed nucleus, and the tissue is implanted in the stomach of the mussel. Once harvested, the mussel is returned to the water, this time to produce a natural, or Keshi pearl called a "second-harvest pearl" where the original had been implanted.

In an attempt to compete with the Japanese in the field of large pearl culturing, the Chinese have been steadily increasing their output of 10+ mm freshwater pearls in recent years. This rapid increase in production has led to oversupply, and a corresponding increase in aggressive marketing and trade practices.

At gigantic "wholesale" pearl markets like the Yuyuan 'Pearl's Circles' market in the Shanghai Tianyu Tower, or the Hongqiao Pearl Market in Beijing you can be entertained by an endless chorus from hundreds of women shouting "mister, you want to but pearls."

The pearl industry had raised concerns that with the creation of so called "all nacre pearls" the Chinese were using all-nacre 'tissue-nucleated' rejects as 'bead nuclei,' rather than using the standard 'shell bead' or 'mantle tissue' nucleation material. It was felt that these types of cultured pearls might be hard to differentiate from standard 'tissue-nucleated' cultured pearls or natural pearls using X-radiograph detection [3].

After performing extensive testing on thousands of samples, the GIA had concluded that there was "no evidence" that Chinese freshwater pearls had been nucleated with "cultured pearl rejects." They further concluded that "the vast majority of large, rounded freshwater cultured pearls from China were grown using mantle tissue inserts only." The larger sizes were attributed to the use of larger host mussels, or "modified" pieces of mantle tissue (SPC Pearl Oyster Information Bulletin #16).

Pearls in Chinese Ceremonial Culture

The use of pearls as a ceremonial object in imperial funerary rituals dates back to the Qing Dynasty. In accordance with Imperial custom, a large pearl was placed into the mouth of the deceased to protect the corpse from decomposition.

The infamous Empress Dowager Cixi, also known as the "Dragon Lady" (1835 to 1908), who was the de-facto ruler of China during the Manchu Qing Dynasty, had a special fondness for pearls in life, and upon her death, a large pearl the size of a "robin's egg" was placed in her mouth. Her coffin was filled with pearls and other jewels, and placed into the Qing Tombs in Hebei Province, east of Beijing.

In 1928 the Empress Dowager's tomb was ransacked by Sun Dianying, a Kuomintang warlord. Cixi's body was desecrated, and it is rumored that some of her stolen jewels and her crown were given to Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek who gifted them to his wife, Soong May-ling who used the pearls to decorate her party shoes.

Bibliography & Suggestions for Further Study on Chinese Pearls

1. American Museum of Natural History, Pearls . www.amnh.org

2. K Mikimoto & Co, Ltd, Pearls . www.mikimoto.com

3. Larne Boyles, Researchers at GIA Act to Protect Trade & Public . www.spc.org.nc

4. Pearl Guide, Japanese Akoya Pearls . www.pearl-guide.com