         
99.99% Pure Gold
Chinese people LOVE gold and we want it as pure as possible. 24K golden
jewelry are considered less desirable and that explains why the goldsmiths in HK
all try to emphasize and guarantee that they sell 99.99% gold (the 9999).
In Hong Kong, golden jewelry sometimes gives an impression of being old
fashion because:
a) the shops are full of thousand-year-old looking shopkeepers
b) the old deco and layout of the shop.
c) bulky, chunky and old fashion design of jewelry
The situation has changed when about 10 years ago much more modern design on
jewelry and shop front deco are introduced. 'Just Gold' is one of these.
Old brand names like 'Chow San San' follows and it not just keeps customers from the older
generations, young generation like the modern design and found it fashionable too.
Other goldsmiths that are around for some time include 'King Fook' and 'Chow Tai Fook'.
Note that for modern goldsmiths, price is shown next to the product and
that's what you pay. For the old style goldsmith, however, there are
prices for the gold plus workmanship charges. It is done this way because
people do sell the jewelry back to the shops even though it may be less common than
the old days. When you sell it back to them, they pay you for the gold
only and you lose your payment for workmanship.
Golden Jewelry
You can get your pure golden jewelry in many forms:
- golden necklace
- golden pendant
This can be a small simple sheet of gold with dragon or blessing words on,
commonly as presents to new born babies of good friends and relatives.
Any other design like animal, floral or even cartoon characters are
available and are purely decorative.
- golden bracelet
If you see a solid and substantial looking bracelet possibly with dragon or
phoenix pattern, then it's a wedding present for the bride. Go for a
simple design for daily wearing.
- golden ear rings
Popular with boys who want to buy their girl friend jewelry but don't want
to spend too much. :-)
- golden ring
Unlike western culture, golden ring is not considered good enough as a
wedding ring. People tend to buy diamond ring as wedding ring these
days.
- little golden statue
It's not really jewelry that you will wear. Little golden statues of
cartoon characters and animals, especially the 12 animals from Chinese new
year are commonly seen. Again, it makes a good present for new baby,
say, a golden monkey for someone born in year of monkey.
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