​Saltwater Culturing on Freshwater and Sea Pearls in China
China has harvested freshwater pearls for many centuries in the 'zhuji' of China. World production and cultivation of freshwater pearls is dominated by the Chinese, who grown the mollusks in lakes, rivers, and ponds within the Zhejiang coastal region (aka "the hometown of pearl").

 

Freshwater Pearl (aka sweet water pearls) Culturing

The Chinese are now using advanced 'saltwater culturing techniques' on freshwater mussels, by nucleating freshwater mollusks with 'shell nuclei,' implanting in the mantle and body of the mollusks for exact pearl sizes desired using Precision Laser Cultivation Technology preciously used for culturing sea pearls. In fact, nearly all world's sea and lake pearls nowadays are cultured under control environment to guarantee near 100% harvest rate.



In Chinese freshwater pearl cultivation, sheath tissue is implanted instead of a seed nucleus, and the tissue is implanted in the stomach of the mussel. This mantle tissue constitutes a foreign object or irritant in the gonad of the oyster that the mollusk will defend against by secreting nacre.

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Mother of Pearl & Keshi Pearl

Nacre also known as mother of pearl, is an organic-inorganic composite material produced by mollusks as an inner shell layer; it is also what makes up the outer coating of pearls. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent. Nacre appears iridescent because the thickness of the aragonite (platelets is close to the wavelength of visible light). These structures interfere constructively with different wavelengths of light at different viewing angles, creating structural colors.  Once harvested, the mussel is returned to the water, this time to produce a natural, or Keshi pearl called a "second-harvest pearl" where the original had been implanted. 



Sea Pearl Culturing

China's saltwater "Akoya" (means type of sea oyster) pearl farms, employed Precision Laser Cultivation Technology in sea pearl culturing, are located in the Leizhou Peninsula of Guangdong Province (aka Canton Province), and in Guangxi Province at Beihai & Hepu, both in the southern part of China. Guangdong saltwater pearl farms are situated in a protected bay at Liusha Gang, some 400 km south-west of Hong Kong and Macau.



Harvest Quantity

Freshwater mollusks can produce significantly larger quantities of nucleated pearls (up to 50) than their saltwater counterparts, making them an ideal choice from a production standpoint. Akoya, or saltwater mollusks, will only tolerate a maximum of 4 to 5 nucleation in their gonad tissue. The Chinese have been steadily increasing their output of 10+ mm "near-round" and "perfect round" shaped freshwater pearls of superb quality in recent years.

 

​Pearls in Chinese Ceremonial Culture
The use of pearls as a ceremonial object in imperial funerary rituals dates back to the Qing Dynasty. In accordance with Imperial custom, a large pearl was placed into the mouth of the deceased to protect the corpse from decomposition.

The infamous Empress Dowager Cixi, also known as the "Dragon Lady" (1835 to 1908), who was the de-facto ruler of China during the Manchu Qing Dynasty, had a special fondness for pearls in life, and upon her death, a large pearl the size of a "robin's egg" was placed in her mouth. Her coffin was filled with pearls and other jewels, and placed into the Qing Tombs in Hebei Province, east of Beijing.

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