Where in China can you buy pearls

Hello,


Just wondering if anyone knows where to buy a good range of pearls at wholesale prices other than Lowu at Shenzhen?

Thanks

Bought some for Mum in 2004 in Beijing Pearl's market (check the lonely planet for exact name). 2nd floor of the building is jade & pearls only. They can provide you authenticity certificate if you ask (and queue up at the custom counter).

Beware : you have to bargain like mad (show that you know the business): ask for the finest pearls which are not on display but in their safe (then they know you know about pearls) and then bargain, and bargain.. price divided by 4: 1 necklace premium quality regular round sea pearls 11 mm diam if i remember well for between 200 and 300 yuen if i remember well... They can mount it as necklace for you though i would advise you brought your own "necklace closing device" (don't know how to call it in English - fermoir in French) as theirs suck.

Saw some Indian people going there to bulk buy some for a wedding in India, though they did not buy the finest ones.

Good luck

In Guangzhou the main pearl market is Liwan Plaza. An 18" strand 9 mm or so highly regular cultured pearls will cost you 300 - 500 kuai. These are authentic. 11 mm sea pearls are prohibitively expensive. Friends have had the cultured pearls appraised in the states at up to 10X their China price. I always get a bunch of necklaces, different color each year for all the women in my and my wife's families. They love them. Lower quality pearls, similar to $100 USD quality sold in states go for 180 kuai or so.

Sea pearls can be cultured perls, the color and " gleam" looks different from river pearls...

But now that i think of it, it is not diameter but perimeter (11 mm diameter would certainly cost an eye, as we say in France; rbauerkenya is right). Lots of way to check whether the pearls are ok or not, the much exotic one is to "taste" them i.e. put them under your teeth to check if the surface is irregular or not (not = plastic, irregular surface = OK pearls)... get an hepatitis A jab before, though....