Editor’s Note
This article reports on the opening of a major international jewelry event in Shanwei, China. The conference and exhibition aim to position the local colored gemstone industry on the global stage, aligning with broader provincial economic initiatives.
On November 1st, the 2025 China Shanwei Colored Gemstone Industry Development Conference and the First Shanwei International Jewelry Exhibition (hereinafter referred to as the “Jewelry Exhibition”) themed “Gems Connect Shanwei, Brilliance Shines Globally” opened in Haifeng County, Shanwei. This event, as a key series activity of Guangdong Province’s “Cross-border E-commerce + Industry Belt” initiative to support the “Hundreds, Thousands, Tens of Thousands Project,” aims to promote Shanwei’s jewelry industry to connect with global resources and move towards high-end development. Sui Fengfeng, Secretary of the Shanwei Municipal Party Committee and Chairman of the Municipal People’s Congress Standing Committee, attended the conference and delivered a speech. Sri Lankan Consul General in Guangzhou, Dilanka Gunawardena, along with leaders from the Guangdong Provincial Department of Natural Resources, Department of Commerce, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Natural Resources, Guangdong University of Technology, Shantou Customs, and China Railway (Guangzhou) Group Co., Ltd., attended the conference. Over 300 industry elites, renowned designers, and international friends gathered to discuss major plans for colored gems and envision a brilliant future.
In his speech, Sui Fengfeng stated that in recent years, Shanwei has embraced the new development positioning of “Eastern Guangdong’s New Highland for Undertaking Industries from the West and an Important Support for the East Coast of Guangdong” granted by the provincial party committee and government. Seizing the major historical opportunity of the “Hundreds, Thousands, Tens of Thousands Project,” and leveraging the resource endowment advantages of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and its proximity to Hong Kong and Macao, Shanwei is committed to building a modern colored gemstone industry cluster integrating raw material processing, design and R&D, and product sales, gradually developing into a world-renowned “World Capital of Colored Gems.” Shanwei will solidly promote the high-end, intelligent, and green transformation and development of the colored gemstone industry, accelerating the formation of clusters, moving towards new horizons, and growing bigger and stronger. Shanwei sincerely invites global industry leaders, jewelry enterprises, design institutions, e-commerce platforms, and research institutes to jointly “turn stone into gold” in Shanwei.
A signing ceremony for major investment and trade cooperation projects was held on-site. This conference signed a total of 35 investment and trade projects, with a total investment and trade volume of 11.961 billion yuan (Renminbi, same below). The conference also launched the “Gemports Trading Index (GPI).” This index is jointly compiled by the China Jewelry and Jade Industry Association and authoritative institutions such as the Jewelry and Jade National Inspection Group. It serves as a reference benchmark for the international colored gemstone market and will provide scientific and reliable basis for global gem industry participants in formulating strategic plans, resource allocation, and investment decisions.
The opening ceremony also featured the unveiling ceremony for the Shanwei City DAMEISHI Jewelry Industry Technology Innovation Center and the “Ten Perfections and Ten Beauties” release ceremony, selecting ten major annual lists including “Top Jewelry Live Streamers,” “Top Ten Jewelry Cross-border E-commerce Export Projects,” and “Top Ten Jewelry Selection Consumption Scenes.” The conference also held three thematic forums where experts and scholars conducted in-depth discussions on topics such as the development trends of the colored gemstone industry market, gemstone fashion design, and interactive network search.
This Jewelry Exhibition innovatively adopted a “Main Exhibition Area + Sub-Exhibition Areas” linkage model, attracting exhibitors from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Poland and other countries, as well as over 3,000 enterprises from China’s Hong Kong, Guangdong, Shenzhen, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other regions. It also attracted over 1,000 professional buyers and investment merchants to the venue. The venue gathered first-tier domestic brands like Chow Tai Fook and Chow Sang Sang, with 60 high-end exquisite products and international exhibition booths dazzling the eyes, making people linger and forget to leave.
During the exhibition period from November 1st to 3rd, to precisely meet the needs of various industry chain segments, the main exhibition area meticulously set up eight themed exhibition zones: gemstones, gold and silver jewelry, pearls, jadeite accessories, raw materials, education and training, live streaming, and craftsmanship display, covering all industry chain segments such as colored gemstone raw materials, processing equipment, finished product sales, and talent cultivation. The Keqiao and Wuzhou sub-exhibition areas synchronized with the colored gemstone and gold and silver jewelry exhibitions, realizing “one-stop” procurement and “panoramic” exhibition and sales. In addition, a series of supporting activities such as the Haifeng Gold and Silver Jewelry Industry Belt field inspection tour, the Shanwei Jewelry T-stage show, the Colored Gemstone Design Master Lecture Series, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Culture Lecture Hall, and the Cross-border Premium Product Consumption Festival were simultaneously launched.
Simultaneously, the exhibition innovatively created a dual-wheel drive model of “offline physical experience + online cross-border live streaming.” The newly added live streaming exhibition area actively engaged in cross-border e-commerce, realizing synchronous online and offline “gem hunting,” allowing consumers at home and abroad to “hunt” for global jewelry products without leaving home.
A reporter from Hong Kong Commercial Daily saw at the scene that the “gemstone aura” in various exhibition areas made many visitors dazzled, repeatedly praising the exhibition for exceeding expectations. At the Lukfook Jewelry exhibition booth, its unique display of gemstone temperament using Peking Opera facial makeup design was eye-catching. Yang Youben, Chairman of Lukfook Holdings Group, told the reporter, “The company’s ‘Rising from the East—Pearl Brilliance Series’ draws materials from ten traditional operas including Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, Yue Opera, Cantonese Opera, Huangmei Opera, and Sichuan Opera. The beauty of facial makeup modeling combined with jewelry craftsmanship evokes emotions derived from the facial makeup colors and the gorgeous costumes of opera performers.” In front of the booth, several ladies from Shenzhen were reluctant to put down the high-end exquisite “Phoenix Crown and Xiapei” (traditional bridal attire) designed by the company, directly saying “buy, buy, buy.”
At the Chow Tai Fook Group exhibition booth, Yang Zhixun, Chairman of Chow Tai Fook Group, told the reporter, “The company was founded in 1986, focusing on the industry of providing jewelry raw materials, processing, sales, and services. The group mainly uses Hong Kong as a sales platform and has sales subsidiaries in countries and regions such as the United States, Japan, Europe, Malaysia, and Singapore. Products are mainly sold to North America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and other regions, holding a leading position in the international gemstone industry.”