2020 World Pearl Congress
The World Pearl Congress was held November 13–15, 2020, in Shanxiahu Town, a division of the Chinese city of Zhuji. Known as “China’s pearl capital,” Shanxiahu Town is known for cultivating, processing, trading, and researching pearls, especially freshwater pearls. The town produces nearly 80% of China’s pearls and is currently home to more than 2,500 pearl companies. This event was organized by CIBJO, the Gems and Jewelry Trade Association of China, the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and the Shaoxing Municipal People’s Government.
The event consisted of a series of activities, presentations, and exhibitions focused on pearls. Despite the global pandemic, more than 400 attendees who live in China and represent a number of professions and industries attended this meeting in person, while several international and domestic speakers delivered a series of talks via prerecorded videos. Presentations included: “Freshwater Pearls from a Laboratory Perspective” (Nicholas Sturman, GIA consultant) (figure 1), “An Overview of the Global Pearl Industry” (Kenneth Scarratt, CIBJO Pearl Commission president), “Development of Quality and Detection of Pearls” (Taijin Lu, NGTC chief scientist), “The Importance of Design to the Pearl Industry” (Paloma Sanchez, independent designer), among many others. In addition, the World Freshwater Pearl Museum was also unveiled (figure 2), with exhibitions detailing the rich history of pearl culturing in China, pearl cultivating and processing techniques, and varieties of freshwater pearls and pearl jewelry.
According to several sources at the meeting, the global pandemic caused little disruption to the production of freshwater cultured pearls, as the harvest usually takes place at the end of the year and the government’s fast control of the virus minimized the impact. However, the export of freshwater cultured pearls has been significantly affected, and dealers are trying to boost domestic sales with more emphasis on a strong online presence. Among different sales methods, livestreaming has become an ever more popular way to sell pearl jewelry in China (figure 3). From January to November 2020, online sales of pearls in Zhuji were valued at 11.85 billion yuan (US$1.8 billion), a year-over-year increase of 18.5%, according to Sina Finance.
