Frustrated by sharply rising gold prices during the Spring Festival shopping rush, many cautious Chinese gold buyers are opting to redesign their old jewelry instead of purchasing expensive finished gold products.
Some gold jewelers in Kunming City, southwest China's Yunnan Province have reported a notable decrease in customer traffic during the Spring Festival holiday, traditionally the peak season for gold jewelry sales.
The decline has come as a result of high prices of the precious metal, according to one of the jewelers.
"In the period around the Spring Festival holiday, the price of gold has increased by approximately 40 yuan (about 5.5 U.S. dollars) per gram. Customers' first reaction upon entering the store is that the gold prices are excessively high. So, the foot traffic has decreased by an estimated 40 to 50 percent," Gao Shunyan, a saleswoman, said.
Many staff members of gold retailers believe that consumers' wait-and-see attitude is fed by the uncertainty about where gold prices will go next.
Meanwhile, a trend of redesigning old gold jewelry and customizing new pieces has been emerging in China.
At a jewelry store located in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, five to six customers arrived with their old gold jewelry for redesign and customization as soon as the store opened in the morning. The three goldsmiths there were busy fulfilling their requests. Without changing the weight, the processing fee for remodeling jewelry is only 10 to 15 yuan (roughly 1.4 to 2 U.S. dollars) per gram. Mr. Qing brought an old gold bracelet and also bought a gold bar to create a new bracelet for his wife. The goldsmith spent over two hours completing the task.
According to Qing, cost-effectiveness and personalization are the reasons why many consumers have chosen to redesign their old jewelry.
"The jewelry brands' products sold at stores are quite expensive. It seems that they all are sold at over 800 yuan (around 110 U.S. dollars) per gram now. I bought a gold bar for processing, which is relatively more cost-effective," Qing said.
Remodeling gold jewelry gets popular in China amid surging gold prices
The Donald Trump administration has now induced over 200 lawsuits in the United States due to its divisive policies in the first 100 days since returning to the White House.
April 29 marks the 100th day of Trump's second term, a traditional milestone for evaluating a president's progress against campaign promises. In the chaotic first 100 days, Trump's administration has rolled out policies to impose sweeping tariffs, push for deportation of immigration, lay off massive federal employees, and shut down a great number of government agencies, among others.
According to Just Security, an editorially independent, non-partisan, digital law and policy journal, so far over 200 lawsuits relating to tariffs, immigration policy, education, and agency layoffs have been filed against Trump's administration in the United States since the beginning of its term.
In particular, legal challenges against the administration's tariff policies have been escalating.
On April 14, multiple U.S. small businesses jointly sued the U.S. government over its tariff policies.
In addition, twelve states, including California, have jointly sued the federal government, urging it to immediately halt its illegal reciprocal tariffs.
In terms of immigration policy, Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office to end birthright citizenship, which was later blocked by multiple federal judges.
In the field of education, Harvard University has recently accused the U.S. government of trying to control the university's academic decisions by freezing federal funds.
In addition, the Trump administration's massive layoffs across many government agencies have also triggered a wave of lawsuits.
According to the New York Times, as of Saturday, at least 108 judicial rulings had blocked the government's effort to implement relevant policies.
Some analysts point out that the Trump administration's aggressive push for these policies reflects its intent to weaponize the executive power, which has triggered a flood of legal challenges.
This phenomenon of "the U.S. suing itself" not only highlights the escalating conflict between the executive and judicial branches, but also reveals how the legal arena is becoming a key battleground for partisan warfare.
The continuous and escalating clashes between U.S. executive and judicial branches, along with the intensifying partisan warfare, have fueled the growing public disillusionment and discontent.
In April alone, over 1,000 protests erupted across the United States, covering all of its 50 states.
Trump's administration faces over 200 lawsuits in chaotic first 100 days
