Jewelry takes on new sparkle as China's technological prowess shines

The National Gemstone Testing Center hosted an online livestreaming event on Wednesday to cater to the public interest in diamond testing and certification at its Daxing lab in Beijing.

The 8-hour event drew 52,000 views on Douyin. Previously, the center has livestreamed about pearls and other gems.

In an era when diamonds can be grown, as new technologies rise and industries from mining and processing, to designing and testing evolve, the center is helping to boost originality and strengthen communication between China and the world, as well as with professionals and laypeople.

At the 2023 International Gems and Jewelry Academic Conference in Beijing in late October, 400 guests from countries including Britain, Switzerland and Thailand attended, giving 29 speeches at two themed salons.

A portable diamond-testing machine was also displayed at the conference.

"It's our own creation, combining both ultraviolet and thermal conductivity processes," said Chen Muyu, who works at the Shenzhen Research Institute of the National Gems and Jewelry Testing Company to which the NGTC belongs.

The machine is like a mini-torch, and weighs as much as a cellphone. Chen said that it has been well received by the market, with 100 of them sold in a month.

Liu Xiang, representative of the jewelry brand Jinxi, was most interested in the new technologies shared at the conference. Listening carefully and taking notes she said that what she saw "really inspired our processing techniques and design".

A graduate of the China University of Geosciences Beijing, Liu attends the biennial conference regularly. She knows the industry in detail, and says China's recent development in terms of research and innovation could match that of leading countries like Belgium, Thailand and Switzerland.

So far, the conference has held 15 sessions. This year it featured innovation and smart digitalization, as the industry began applying big data and artificial intelligence, as in many others.

Ye Zhibin, president of the Gems and Jewelry Trade Association of China, called for an "international community with a shared future for trade" at the conference.

"By breaking down barriers to knowledge, technology and talent, we could work together to innovate," Ye said.