Monday, 22nd April, 2013.
After our long hike across Tiān’ānmén Square (one kilometre) and then through the Forbidden City (three kilometres) we had a welcome lunch at a local restaurant. This particular dish was a whole fish – yum!
Then we went to a pearl shop.
To culture freshwater mussels, workers slightly open their shells, cut small slits into the mantle tissue inside both shells, and insert small pieces of live mantle tissue from another mussel into those slits. In freshwater mussels that insertion alone is sufficient to start nacre production.
From the 1990s, China has revolutionised the cultured pearl industry, with enormous advances in shape, colour and lustre. (My favourites were the golden pearls.)
Most of the world’s cultured pearls are now produced in China.
Coloured pearls, which occur due to local chemicals inside the shell, much in the way of rubies or sapphires, can be made by inserting natural dyes into the mussel shell.
As well as the classic pearly white, pearls are now able to be produced in an amazing range of colours such as differing shades of pink, cream, chocolate, almost-black and my favourite - gold.
Tatiana models some expensive black pearls.
A salesgirl insisted I try on this rather hideous blister pearl necklace. (I think Tatiana was a better model).
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