Gold Jewelry Station

China is a very old nation with a very deep, advanced and interesting culture. When in Europe people were still running around with bows and arrows, the chinese already wrote poetry, created beautiful art and crafts, followed sofisticated religions and philosophies, practiced advanced medecine, discovered the gun powder, etc.  Nowadays, their traditions are still strong and their people are wise and well behaved. They have a lot they could teach the West. One important part of their culture is how they handle finances.

Chinese use cash to buy and sell. They are not fond of using credit cards, because going in debt is something shameful in their culture. If they have money they buy, and if they don´t have money they won´t buy until they have it. Chinese are saving people by nature. They regularly and faithfully save a portion of their income and accumulate their savings for a lifetime. Chinese are traditionally a gold-oriented nation. It is their belief that each chinese person should accumulate a substantial quantity of 24k gold in the form of gold jewellery, gold coins or gold bars.  To help each other achieve this goal, relatives give gold presents to newborns, to newly wed couples, during Chinese New Year and other occasions.

A bride is expected to  receive gold jewelry in the form of gold bracelets, gold necklaces, gold earrings, gold rings, gold figurines, etc. from her parents, in laws and husband. This tradition is supposed to help the new couple start their life together with something to fall on if things get tough. There are many gold crafters, jewellers and gold shops that only sell by word of mouth or referrals. It is rare to make a sale to someone fresh from the street. Their handcrafted gold jewellery is exquisite, with delicate and fashionable creations made of pure 99.9% 24K gold, because nothing but the purest gold (Chuck Kam)is accepted by a chinese.

In the west, gold is alloy with other metals to give it more strenght and hardness, as gold is a soft metal and easily scratched. Westerners buy gold jewellery to wear it, therefore they want something that does not get scratched or easily broken. Mixing with other metals brings the Gold´s purity down to 12K, 4K, 18K and 22K, depending on the kind of metal it is alloyed with.  

The chinese don´t buy gold jewellery to wear it, at least not frequently, therefore there is no need to mix it with less valuable metals. They buy gold as an investment, and the purer the gold is, the more expensive and valuable it becomes. It is not a bad idea to invest some savings in gold coins or in 24k gold jewellery. Buy small pieces that could be sold or traded if needed. Earrings, charms for your gold bracelets, medals, pendentifs, are a good choice with this idea in mind.