“Looka, looka.  You buy, okay?” a Muslim Hui woman wearing a straw hat with an orange scarf approaches me on the beach in Sanya on Hainan province, China.  Golden, white and rose colored pearls of dubious quality dangle from her outstretched arms.  At least twenty more strands are draped around her neck.  They can be purchased for about $3 a strand. 

At the other end of the pearl spectrum is Haiyu Pearl Company, Ltd.  Located down a dirt street on the eastern coast of Sanya with a stunning sea view, Haiyu Pearl is one of Hainan’s factories and retailers.  Their showroom is filled with luminescent pearls from simple strands to elaborate weaves.  They come in a number of hues from silver-gray, to pink, rose and light purple with sizes ranging from 0.3 grams to 15 grams. Last December the contestants of the 2005 Miss World Beauty Pageant came here for a tour and buying spree.  

From the humble to the elegant, pearls define Hainan’s culture. 

“In Chinese we use two characters for pearl,” says Wei Quan Lui, General Manager of Haiyu Pearl Company, Ltd.  “The first one is for the pearl.  The second one means treasure.  Since the first character represents the main meaning, in China we say that pearls are more valuable than treasure.” 

Assistant manager, Li Ping adds, “One of our legends tells us that the first pearl came from a fairy lady’s tear.  Pearls are a warm jewel, unlike diamonds which are cold.”  Pearls from Haiyu Pearl Company and other pearl factories are exported to countries around the world including Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the EU and the United States.

China’s salt water pearl industry is really a triangle of three provinces:  Guangdong, Guanxi, and Hainan.  Guangdong is the leader in saltwater pearl production generating about 12 tons of pearls per year with Guanxi a close second producing app. 8-10 tons.  Hainan trails behind yielding less than a ton of pearls each year.  In fact, many of the pearls sold in Hainan’s  pearl shops, probably come from Guangdong or Guanxi Provinces.  Yet pearl culture permeates Hainan’s lifestyle much more than in the other two pearl provinces.  Maybe it’s the tropical climate and the sapphire South China Sea with its miles of white sand beaches.  Or the coconut palms and vibrant hibiscus that line the wide boulevards and give the island a casual, laid back feel.  Pearls seem to be a natural extension of Hainan’s character.      

Also, what Hainan lacks in quantity, it is seeking to make up for in quality.  With an annual average air temperature of 28º C (82.4º F) and water temperature averaging 25ºC (77º F), Hainan has become a prime research area for tropical marine lives, including salt water pearl oysters. 

At the forefront of this research today is Professor Aimin Wang of  Ocean College at Hainan University.  This year Professor Wang and his team received a five year grant from the Chinese government to support their research on Hainan’s pearl oysters with three main goals of producing larger, faster-growing oysters, a healthier, more disease resistant stock, and higher quality pearls.  “In China we produce many pearls but they are often of poor quality.”  Professor Wang says.  He attributes this poor quality to two major factors: genetic stock and environment—too many oysters in too small an area.  As a result the oysters are small and weak, producing inferior pearls.  “We have three main objectives,” he says.  “The first thing we are trying to do is to find ways to improve the oysters’ genetics by selective cross breeding and hybridization. The second thing I do is to try to encourage the farmers to cultivate on a smaller scale. To breed for quality, not quantity.”  This second item has met with some resistance from the local pearl farmers.  A number of small pearl farms are scattered along Hainan’s coastline.  The vast majority of these are operated by local people who equate more oysters with higher profits.  Yet, the effects of overpopulation are proving detrimental to quality, size and output.  As the positive results of Professor Wang’s experimentation become obvious, more of these farmers are showing receptivity to modern oyster farming techniques.  The third objective for Professor Wang and his research team is experimentation with new methods of disease control, especially for polychaetes disease, a worm that bores into the oyster shell. Cement painting of the outer shell has proven the most effective method so far. 

Most of Hainan’s pearl farms grow akoyas.  To a lesser degree pinctada maxima and pinctada margaritifera are also produced.  One farm has attempted to produce black pearls, but with limited success.  “Hainan is an ideal place for research,” says Professor Wang, “It is a typical tropical marine area and the oysters here grow faster than in Guangdong and Guanxi.”   This is significant when waiting for the results of hybridization experiments.  Difficulties arise in producing large quantities of pearls, however.  Annual typhoons during the summer months can wreak havoc on unprotected pearl beds.  Last September a typhoon swept through the island, and while it didn’t directly damage the farms, now about half of the oysters are seriously diseased, a fact that Professor Wang attributes to the typhoon. 

In 2003 Professor Wang and his students began working on a project to cross oysters from different geographical locations.  They crossed akoyas from India and from Hainan to try and produce a superior oyster. The Indian cultured population is fast growing with a pink nacre while the Sanya wild population grows more slowly with a yellow nacre.  The first generation hybrid showed a nearly 50% increase in size and weight and with proper matching of the mantis and receptive oyster showed a promising increase in color and higher quality pearls. Some of the farmers in Guangdong and Guangxi, two very important culturing areas in China, are asking Professor Wang to supply the new hybrid.  Professor Wang has also developed a better bio-nucleus which is being exported to Tahiti and Indonesia.

Although jewelry is the most visible form of Hainan’s pearl culture, cosmetics and medicine also play an important role.  The Jingrun Pearl Co., Ltd., Hainan’s largest pearl factory, was the first in the area to begin mass marketing medicine and cosmetics using pearl powder.   Wang Hai of Jingrun Pearl estimates that 50% of their sales are non-jewelry.  Wang Hai says that pearl product sales alone are not a large part of Hainan’s overall economy but they are inextricably linked to tourism which is the number one economy on the island.  Nearly all of Jingrun’s cosmetic and medicinal sales are within China.  Only about 10% leave the country and those are mostly to Hong Kong and Taiwan.   Jingrun Pearl Co.’s goal for the future is to develop new markets, especially in the health food area.  They are currently running a major advertising campaign advocating the health benefits of pearl products.  Wang Hai says “Our goal is to promote  pearl culture and let it spread to the world.”

The curative power of powdered pearl has a long history in China. Li Zhi Zhen, one of China’s great physicians and herbalists from the Ming Dynasty, compiled a 52 volume dictionary of herbs and herbal remedies, Ben Cao Gang Mu, that has been translated into over 60 languages.  This work is still considered one of the cornerstones for traditional Chinese medicine.  In it he discusses pearl powder as a treatment for a number of ailments including insomnia, indigestion, and heart and liver problems.  Today, pearl powder is a commonly used remedy for colicky babies. 

China’s romance with pearls is long-standing.  Over 4,000 years ago they were given as precious gifts to royalty.  A legend recalls how an ancient emperor became so enthralled with pearls that he forced the fishermen to dive for them even during turbulent weather.  Accounts of farming pearl oysters are first recorded during the Song Dynasty from about 960-1127.

Pearls are also bound up with another great icon of China—the dragon.  A pearl is often depicted either as a luminous spinning ball above the dragon’s head or held on its tongue.  Daoist thought links the dragon’s pearl with the moon and thunder, with meditation and dreams, and with the wisdom that comes when a person is ready to receive it.  It represents the dual influences of nature, the light of wisdom and the source of eternal life for those who perceive truth and, thus, attain enlightenment. 

The acceleration of China’s pearl industry is directly related to Deng Xaio Peng’s economic reforms introduced into the country in 1978.  China’s coastal areas have benefited most from these reforms and this is reflected in the rapid advancements made in the pearl industry.  In 1988 Hainan was established as China’s largest special economic zone.  The pearl, which is so wrapped up with China’s history and mythology, is an apt symbol for this region’s emergence as a major player in the world’s pearl economy. 

Leslie Jordan Clary is a freelance writer currently living on Hainan Island.  Her website.