Zhuji Shanxia Lake, a water town in the south of the Yangtze River famous for its pearls.
As the world's largest freshwater pearl distribution center and trading center, the pearl industry here has undergone a gorgeous transformation from traditional extensive cultivation to technology and branding, and is now radiating unprecedented vitality and vitality. On the stage of the global pearl market, Zhuji pearl shows the pride and charm of China's traditional industry to the world with its excellent quality and unique cultural connotation.
In order to welcome the 2024 Yamashita Lake World Pearl Conference, Yamashita Lake Town has set up a 520 romantic landmark on the road - love zebra crossing, which has become an Internet celebrity check-in point. (Drawing)
Borrowing from the "new",
Leading the green development of the industry
What does a pearl go through from sowing to harvesting?
Walking into the pearl breeding base of Shanxia Lake Town, the lake surface is clear, the birds are soaring, and the vitality is full. However, more than 10 years ago, high-density farming, excessive feeding and fertilization caused by environmental pollution and low quality and efficiency problems have plagued farmers for a long time. In 2017, Zhuji issued relevant regulations to shut down farmers who did not meet the water quality standards at the outlets. Under the pressure of the policy, farmers can only find their own way out, carry out strict ecological treatment of the tail water of aquaculture, plant purified aquatic plants in the breeding pond, learn "mussel + fish" and "mussel + lotus" and other aquatic products, and gradually realize the green transformation of pearl farming.
At that time, Guo Weifeng, who was still working as a technician in a pearl farming enterprise in Hubei, returned to his hometown Zhuji to start a business, and after many twists and turns, he joined hands with the technical team of Harbin Institute of Technology and the Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to solve the problem, and applied the Internet of Things management technology to "accurately feed" the algae to the body of the river mussel through the pipe network, avoiding direct fertilization into the water body.
In recent years, thanks to this intelligent biological chain water control and targeted aquaculture technology, Zhuji has effectively solved the contradiction between pearl cultivation and water protection, increased the density of pearl cultivation, and shortened the cultivation cycle by half a year to one year. "The traditional cultivation method only produces 1,000 pearls per mu, and now it can be as high as 6,000-10,000, with an output value of 200,000 yuan per mu." Guo Weifeng said.
This is one of the epitomes of the transformation of pearl farming from traditional extensive to scientific and technological and ecological. In the pearl screening and sorting process, it has also undergone very similar changes.
Walking into the production workshop of Tianhe Small Pearl, 9 pearl sorters and color sorters are working 24 hours a day. These machines can automatically identify the length, quality, and color of pearls, which is finer and more efficient than manual work, and only requires one person to take care of them. In 2021, Tianhe installed automated machines, one pearl sorter can replace the workload of nearly 20 people, and one pearl sorter can replace the workload of nearly 100 people.
"The sorter can distinguish between 9 different sizes of pearls with 100% accuracy, which plays a great role in the subsequent initial processing." According to He Tianping, general manager, from pure manual screening, to manual screening of motor vibration simulation, and then to the automated machine improved from screening rice, every step has greatly improved production efficiency.
Since the 80s of the last century, from the "sack economy" of providing bare beads from "basket to basket", to green breeding and digital processing, demand and difficulties have forced the industry to get out of the "comfort zone" and break the "bottleneck period". Based on more than 40 years of development in the face of difficulties, Zhuji pearl industry has continuously formed such a regular understanding and habitual thinking, and has embarked on a development path of turning green into "gold".
strong brand,
Build the core competitiveness of the industry
Brand is the soul of the industry, but also the source of the vigorous vitality of Zhuji pearl industry. Last year, the 19th Asian Games came to a grand conclusion, and on the shore of West Lake, Ruan Shi Pearl presented the Asian Games with an artistic sculpture "The Source of the Lake", showing the charm and power of Chinese pearls to the world.
As a well-known jewelry brand in China, Ruan Shi Pearl, which originated in Shanxia Lake, specializes in pearl cultivation and the processing and sales of pearl jewelry products, and has now become an outstanding representative of the "national gift" brand in China's jewelry industry and an international professional pearl high-end brand.
In the Nguyen Shi pearl flagship store, all kinds of pearl jewelry with novel designs and unique styles are displayed in the cabinets. Store manager He Yan introduced that in recent years, the company has introduced high-level talents from Zhejiang University and other colleges and universities, and actively explored and led the development of pearl design innovation and processing technology. In order to further increase brand building, the company has successively opened offline stores in high-end shopping malls such as Beijing Wangfujing Department Store, Nanjing Deji Plaza, Xiamen Panji Famous Center, etc., and has also launched private customized services for VIP customers, with thousands of VIP members across the country.
Under the guidance of the "big brother" in the industry, small and medium-sized pearl enterprises in Shanxia Lake are also paying more and more attention to brand operation, starting from the perspectives of product design, brand culture, media publicity, etc., to gather momentum to promote the "pearl fever". In the live broadcast room of Xinmani Pearl, the founder Wang Xin often uses the history of jewelry as a starting point to tell the audience about the cultural charm of pearls, attracting 250,000 fans on the Douyin platform; Minghuang Jewelry launched the brand slogan of "Good Mountain, Good Water, Good Pearl", and incubated 8 head anchors with more than one million fans through marketing methods such as expanding talent lines and personal manager accounts, and since entering the e-commerce market in 2020, the annual sales growth rate has reached 50%; Zhuji Yicheng Pearl Farming Co., Ltd. invited internationally renowned jewelry designers to launch a series of pearl jewelry such as "Dream Order", "Mountains and Seas" and "Phoenix Seeking Phoenix" in combination with traditional Chinese culture, which are sought after by many consumers at home and abroad......
According to the data, the current regional brand value of "Shanxia Lake Pearl" has reached 150 billion yuan, and 15 companies including Ruan Shi Pearl have been selected as the top 50 global pearl enterprise brands in Hurun. From resource supply to brand leadership, from the "leader" of the domestic pearl industry to a firm foothold in the international market, Shanxiahu Town has gradually moved towards a "100 billion-level pearl industry".
full-chain collaboration,
Promote the high-quality development of the industry
"Pearls aren't just for decoration, they're really useful." Zhejiang Yisheng Technology Co., Ltd. is mainly engaged in the development of pearl jewelry and derivatives, chairman Zhan Chunjiong told reporters that recently, the company and Hangzhou Weiyuan Biotechnology Co., Ltd. have completed the efficacy test of pearl cosmetics raw materials.
"The pearl protein peptide in the raw material is better than the competing products in a number of key indicators, and it is expected to complete the filing process of new cosmetic raw materials next year and obtain the filing license." Zhan Chunjiong introduced that the company signed a cooperation agreement with Weiyuan Biotech in September last year to carry out the research and development and industrialization of high value-added derivative products such as pearl skin care and pearl health care, in an attempt to get rid of the situation of dependence on imports and uncontrollable supply, and promote the transformation and upgrading of the pearl industry. As early as 2019, Yisheng Technology invested 120 million yuan to build the "Pearl Derivatives Development Project", and has successfully developed more than 50 kinds of pearl derivative products, with the highest single product sales exceeding 100,000 pieces.
Behind the high-quality development of the whole pearl industry chain and the whole value chain is the layout and optimization of Zhuji leading and improving the industrial chain map, which is the key to the continuous growth of Zhuji pearls. In 2023, Zhuji issued the "Implementation Plan for the Improvement of the Beautiful Pearl Industry Chain" and the "Supplementary Opinions on Further Improving the High-quality Development Policy of the Pearl Industry", etc., which clearly encourage the continuous improvement of the added value of pearl products and the expansion and strengthening of the industrial chain.
In the upstream, through the introduction of advanced cultivation technology and equipment, the quality and yield of pearls are continuously improved; In the midstream, we pay attention to the innovation and improvement of processing technology. Through the introduction of advanced processing equipment and technical personnel, we will continuously improve the added value and market competitiveness of products; In the downstream links, actively expand sales channels and market space, continuously expand the popularity and market share of products, and improve the awareness and trust of Zhuji Pearl. In addition, Zhuji has also strengthened cooperation and exchanges with well-known enterprises and institutions at home and abroad, and promoted the international development process of the industry.
In order to further improve the layout of the industrial chain and optimize the industrial structure, Zhuji has also actively built innovative service models such as "integrated warehouse for quality inspection and logistics". Through the introduction of authoritative testing institutions such as the National Jewelry Quality Supervision and Inspection Center and resources such as express companies, the level of key indicators such as product testing efficiency and logistics distribution speed has been improved, and the impact of risk factors such as return rate on industrial development has also been reduced. These measures have provided a strong guarantee and support for the sustainable and healthy development of Zhuji's pearl industry.
Today, "Yamashita Lake Pearl" has become a world-renowned brand symbol; With its strong industrial strength and brand influence, Zhuji pearl industry also shows the pride and vitality of China's traditional industries on a global scale.
May 17-19
1000 pearl jewelry, grab it for free!
Source: Shirong Media Center Shanxiahu Town
Contributed by: Shou Siyue Yang Jiana
Photo: Zhou Zhihao
Editor in charge: Shi Mengdi
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