Buying Pearls

Shopping for pearls was quite the experience. I found myself in the Hongmei Entertainment Street area with time to kill. There was a market across the street that I had always wanted to check out called something like the Hong Qiao Handicraft Market. I stumbled across the Hong Qiao International Pearls City on the second floor. There must be 50 or more shops that sell mostly pearls.

Not knowing much about pearls, I set about to learn as much as I could by going shop to shop. They all pretty much told me the same thing about how to tell if the pearls are real. They will take a knife or a pair of scissors and scrap the surface of the pearls. If they are real, the pearl will retain its luster. One saleswoman demonstrated on both fake and real pearls. The fake pearl did not retain its luster where it was scraped. Also, if the pearls are real, if you rub them together, they will feel gritty. The fake ones will feel smooth.

Most of the pearls are freshwater pearls. They have the saltwater pearls, if you ask for them. The saltwater pearls are about twice as expensive. The reason is that they have to drive for the pearls in deep water and each oyster only contains one pearl. The one pearl, however, is always spherical in shape. The freshwater pearls are cultivated in shallow waters and each oyster can contain up to 5 pearls. The freshwater pearls are more durable, as one saleswoman demonstrated by crushing a saltwater pearl with a pair of pliers. The freshwater pearls come in all shapes, from nearly rectangular to elliptical to spherical.

In general, they will try to sell you the lesser quality pearls. One can buy these dirt cheap, if you bargain with them. To get to the higher quality pearls that are nearly spherical and with few defects, one has to ask for them. Once one starts looking at the pearls, they will do whatever they can to keep you from going elsewhere. I wanted to learn something about pearls, so I went place to place.

I ultimately decided to bargain with RuRu at the Xiao Qiu (Little Ball) Pearls and Jewelry. She has a partner called Candy, whom I never met. She was very delightful to deal with and spoke exceptional English and offered the best prices. It took a while to get to her best price. Of course, she was only willing to give me her best price because I was her "first customer of the day". They all told me this ...lol. She seemed to be popular as a couple of former customers stopped by just to say, "Hello".

In the end, I bought two necklaces of her best 10 mm pearls. I got her to throw in a pair of matching earrings for each. She replaced the string with a silk string and knotted everyone so that if it were to break the pearls would not be lost. Then she attached the clasp. Her speed and agility at putting the necklaces together while carrying on a conversation with me and managing to sell me some jade in the process was remarkable. She told me all about jade and how to tell if it is real and how to judge the best quality. She explained a lot about pearls as well, saying that the 10mm pearls were 10 years in the making. She carefully packaged each necklace and pair of earrings in a separate box so the pearls would not rub together. If you see RuRu, say "Hi" for me.

It was a very pleasant experience and I highly recommend it. It you don't like bargaining, however, you may not enjoy it.

The best way to get there is to take a taxi. The address is as follows:

Candy and RuRu
Xiao Qiu Pearls and Jewelry, G055
Hong Qiao International Pearls City, Second Floor
3712 Hongmei Road
Chang Ning, District, Shanghai

Email: Candyru@163.com

One can get close by taking Line 2 from the People's Square to the Zhong Shan Park stop, then taking Line 4 one stop south to West Yan'an Road and then taking a taxi from there. It is possible to walk from there following the Yan'an Elevated Road to the west. I've done it. It takes an hour or more. Just be careful; Yan'an Road hooks right and you have to cross a major road to follow it. Eventually, you will run into Hongmei Road. Go left. It is just a short walk from there on the right side of the road. If you run into the Hongmei Entertainment Road, you have gone too far.