Our Farms

We began our first pearl farm in southeast China in the early 1970's. Pearl farms were state-controlled, and exports passed through the government agencies. Because quality was initially low and uncontrolled, these small and irregular rice pearls flooded the market. Inferior freshwater pearls gained a reputation as cheap and low quality, which explains why many people still rank freshwater pearls in the lower tier of the whole pearl family. By the mid 1980's, our farms could produce better quality small baroques, oval, and potato-shaped pearls. During the last decade, Chinese farms released from state control were able to create round pearls. Unlike Akoya, South Sea and Tahitian pearls, freshwater pearls are tissue-nucleated. So it is much more difficult to create a round pearl from a tissue nucleus as opposed to a round, mollusk shell bead. In 2000, 30-40% of China's harvest was made of up round pearls, and as many as 40% of these round pearls, or 10-15% of the total were of gem quality. Our pearls are also increasing in size, up to 18mm, making them competitive with the larger South Sea and Tahitian pearls. Today, our farms are some of the largest in the world and span over 10,000 square miles. Our innovative farming techniques enable us to produce larger sizes and more colors than some other types of pearls. Our goal is to produce extreme high quality pearls at reasonable prices.

Click here to read more about the advances in freshwater pearl farming techniques at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
Click here to read about the different types of pearls on the market at Professional Jeweler.
Click here to read about buying pearls at ABC news' Good Morning America.

Homes

Our experienced farmers scout fresh water areas for suitable homes for the implanted mollusks. By itself, clean, unpolluted water does not necessarily guarantee high quality pearls so we test potential water areas for levels of bacteria, nutrition, oxygen, pH, and plankton. Water condition is the key to successful mussel growth with an ideal temperature between 64 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit. The water should be peaceful, well-circulated, full of nutrients, and non-polluted. The water depth should be 3.5 to 8 feet (not more than 13 feet) because if the water is too shallow, the temperature may fluctuate too rapidly and cause the mussels to die. Ideal acid - alkali concentration is 7 to 8 ph. If the water is too acidic, the pearls will be small, but if the water contains too much alkali, the pearls turn slightly yellow.

Due to our extensive search for the best water, our pearl farms are located across six provinces in China. Until the mid 1980's, we used the mussel Cristaria Plicata, but the pearls from this species are oblong or irregular shaped, of poor quality. We now harvest pearls from a thicker-shelled, hardier mussel named Hyriopsis Cumingii. This species yields the best quality round pearls with excellent luster and large sizes with the major drawback being that the pearls take longer to cultivate.

Grafting

The selected mussels soak in a basin for a few days, and then are cleaned and put in a wooden basin with water level slightly lower than the mussels so they can breathe. Each mussel is opened less than half an inch wide to avoid injury, and a piece of tissue is placed in the triangular scalpel slit. It is crucial that the tissue not make contact with the shell. The tissue origin partially determines the color and quality of the cultured pearl. The number of tissues implanted depends on the size and health of a given mussel, but unlike saltwater oysters, a freshwater mussel may take more than a few tissue implants. The entire process from shell opening to tissue preparation and grafting should take less than 15 minutes.

Cultivation

Generally, our farms plant between March and May and September and October since in the summer the water temperature is too hot for the newly-implanted mussels to survive, while in the winter it's too cold for technicians to perform the delicate implant work. A group of three or four implanted mussels are placed in a basket or nylon net and hung at 0.5 to 1 meter intervals from a long thick rope, which is tied to two bamboo poles at its two ends respectively. The rope is floated by buoys allowing the mussels to remain at a constant depth even during periods of low water. Our implanted mussels are given special treatment ?which means the best food and care. These mussels are fed various nutrients from soybean milk, fermented organic fertilizer such as bean cake and compost (pine tree soil and chicken manure), or compounds developed specifically for pearl mussels. Farmers check the water temperature and nutrients and move the mussels up or down as necessary.

Periodically, the mussels are removed from the water for cleaning and a health check. Aquatic weed, barnacles and other organisms that might interfere with their feeding are removed from the mussel's shell. Mussels are also susceptible to bacteria, virus, plankton, and fish. With research and development, medicines have been invented to thwart certain diseases, making it possible to cultivate mussels for longer periods. However, plague is still the largest problem that the industry faces. Tending to the mussels is a labor intensive and continuous process aimed at smoothly developing the pearls to minimize blemishes.

Previously, we cultivated our implanted freshwater mussels for about two years before harvest. Now, we have extended the cultivation period to four to seven years, or sometimes longer, to create high quality freshwater pearls sized 9 ?18 mm. On the other hand, most other pearl types are grown for one to three years.

Harvesting and Processing

After harvest, gem quality pearls must be sorted by size, shape, color and luster. No two pearls are ever exactly alike, so the sorting is done by experts. Each pearl is handled hundreds of times during the classification and matching process. After sorting, the pearls are drilled with great care and precision because an inexperienced operator can split or ruin pearls. A slightly off-center hole will ruin a necklace or other item of jewelry that depends upon the symmetry the pearls. All pearls must be matched and strung for future use. Experts must compare pearls that are similar in size, shape, luster and color - looking for nearly exact matches. Only highly-trained artisans with years of experience can find matching pearls for a necklace, a pair of earrings or other jewelry. Artisans must sort through more than 10,000 pearls to find enough pearls that are so closely matched to create a single necklace.