As the Spring Festival approaches, the Chinese gold market has witnessed an increase in sales of gold jewelry, with those featuring snake-themed designs and a blend of traditional and modern elements being highly favored by consumers.
This year, numerous gold stores in China have unveiled gold jewelry pieces incorporating the snake element for the upcoming Year of the Snake. These include necklaces, rings, and pendants with unique designs and auspicious symbolism, capturing consumers' favor.
"I found that their snake rings are quite beautiful, so I thought of giving one to my elders, wishing them good luck and peace in the Year of the Snake," said a consumer from Huai'an City, east China's Jiangsu Province.
At a gold store in Beijing, the counter showcasing snake-themed lucky beads is bustling with consumers. They can select their preferred styles and creatively combine the lucky beads to craft bracelets and necklaces.
"This year is the Year of the Snake for my child, which is her zodiac year. Before the Chinese New Year, my mom said she must wear this bracelet to joyfully welcome in the Year of the Snake," said a consumer from Beijing.
Besides, an increasing number of young consumers are buying gold jewelry ahead of the Spring Festival. They prefer selecting products through live streaming and goldsmithing.
At a jewelry store in Beijing, staff are conducting live streams for online consumers.
According to the staff, there has been a consistent rise in consumer demand for online information and purchases of gold jewelry. Consequently, the store conducts daily live streams on its social media account.
"Since young people tend to browse and select products online more frequently now, we have introduced an online shopping service for them," said Zhao Jing, manager of the planning department at the store.
"I browsed on social media a few days ago, and still believe that gold might be the most extravagant choice, so I decided to come and take a look," said Li Ziwen, a consumer from Beijing.
The growing trend of young consumers watching live streams and subsequently visiting physical stores has spawned goldsmithing, a business dedicated to processing gold raw materials supplied by customers. Once a style is chosen, customers entrust the gold materials to goldsmiths who then craft the finished product.
"The feeling of items made by machines is different from those crafted by hand. Handmade items have a sense of sincerity, and you can also engrave whatever you want based on your own ideas," said Zheng Jie, another consumer from Beijing.
In addition to the ability to customize styles, goldsmithing enables consumers to sidestep the hefty markups and costly labor expenses linked with buying from major brands.
Some consumers choose to purchase gold bars from banks and then have them crafted into jewelry by goldsmiths. By paying a modest additional fee for the craftsmanship, they can acquire an one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry.
In Shuibei, a gold jewelry manufacturing and trading hub in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, fashionable gold products crafted using ancient techniques are especially popular among younger consumers.
"The influence of China-chic on the cultural confidence of the people has led our product categories featuring ancient craftsmanship to constitute a significant portion of our offerings, making up about 30 percent of the total products," said Luo Zuobing, director of a gold trading center in Shuibei.
This year, many merchants have innovated with gold products by using small amounts of gold to craft a variety of gold stickers. These stickers come in diverse styles, blending traditional cultural elements with modern design, thus becoming a new favorite among young consumers.
"The trending item this year is these phone stickers that can be placed on the back of our phone cases, with a lightweight design priced at just a few dozen yuan," said Cai Tingting, a gold merchant.
Merchants have stated that this time of year marks the peak season for gold sales in Shuibei. With a high demand for wedding banquets and gifts for the Chinese New Year, the popularity of gold products is anticipated to rise even further as the Spring Festival approaches.
"There has been a significant increase in footfall and transaction volume. At the beginning of last year, we were still able to cope with receiving guests, but this year we clearly feel that we are too busy to cope," said Cai Yihan, another gold merchant.
Gold jewelry sales boom in China as Spring Festival nears
