[missmouse]

hello heidie,

while i am no pearl expert, i am an expat living in shangahi china and have bought pearls here from a couple of the places mentioned above (nanjing road and zhu ji).

i just wanted to mention another place, and that is the newer pearl/'craft' market in hongqiao (on the pu xi side of shanghai). it is bigger than pearl city on nanjing road, and the selection and prices are generally better (they have lots of stuff, not just pearls). my favorite store is the one jeremy mentioned, ling ling. there is a store on the second floor of the hongqiao market as well as the one on nanjing road. you will probably also see a nice store called ru pei-pei. they have nice stuff, but their prices seem really inflated to me and the staff can be quite rude. i still do business with them when i HAVE to, but i try to stick with ling ling.

i believe the hongqiao market is on hong mei lu......

erin

ps--i have been to xi an and gui lin. i have never heard of anyone going to those places for pearls. in fact, all i bought from my trips to those places was a charming little handpainted snuff bottle.

[jshepherd]

I have been wondering about the new Hongqiao!

A New Hongqiao Pearl Market in Shanghai

Ru Pei Pei was considered one of the best by many, but she lost a lof of customers in the late 90's. I have never purchased from her so I am not sure of the chief complaints, but it sounds like it is a problem of attitude. I had this issue with Yong Hong many years ago (some of you will know her as Sharon).

If I have time next trip through Shanghai I will definitely hit Hongqiao. I have been promissing Ling Ling a visit and dinner for more than 3 years now!

[missmouse]

oh jeremy,

you should definitely take some time to visit hong qiao. i don't know how good the pearl quality is compared to nanjing road, but it is a fun jewelry market in general and i am sure you will get some good ideas from just looking around!

erin

[National Pearl]

Concerning Beijing vs Shanghai Vs Hong Kong, it would probably be best to let Jeremy answer that question. My only opinion is that HongKong dealers will speak English, which should add a higher level of comfort to you unless you happen to speak Mandarin, in which case you could do quite well in Beijing or Shanghai or elsewhere...

Anyway, concerning Jade, I just wanted to point out that very little of China's high quality Jade actually comes from China. Much of their jade is currently sourced from several southeast asian countries and the final production is performed by skilled Chinese labor. Again, there are a bounty of providers of Jade in Beijing and Shanghai but I can't provide much guidance as to which retailers will provide superior quality. One tip I can provide is to look for "jadeite" as it is the hardest, and best quality of the Jade varieties.

[Pearlgifts]

Please let us know the exact place we can buy Fresh Water pearls and Akoya pearls in Beijing? Any direction on how to get there?

[jshepherd]

Hongqiao market - in both, and Shanghai Travelling Goods Market in Shanghai. You do not really need directions. Just take a taxi from any hotel and let the hotel know you would like to go to the "pearl market". I would advise against buying any available Akoyas at these markets, however. You really need to be careful and know exactly what you are doing to buy them, and the chances of finding good quality there are slim to none. You can do well with the freshwater pearls, however. The price points typically work well in mall stores for freshwater as well.

[Pearlgifts]

Jeremy:

Thank you very much for your information.

I would like to know how often those pearl markets operate. Do they open daily or follow a set schedule? I plan to visit those pearl markets at the end of this year and afraid that the markets are closed during my visits. I am interested in Fresh Water Pearl strands.

David
Pearlgifts.