It is the earliest pearl cultivation in China. As early as the Song Dynasty (960 ~ 1279), the shell-attached beads were cultivated in China, and 1082 began to be used. Wen Chang Miscellanies written by Pang in the Song Dynasty said: "Xie, assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, said that there is a method of pearl cultivation: take the present system as a pseudo-core, choose a bright and round one, take a slightly larger mussel, soak it in clear water, and feed it into its mouth to change the frequency of casting pearls with clear water, and then make two Qiu Cheng pearls." In the Song Dynasty, pearls can be cultivated for at least two years, and they are freshwater pearls with stones.
However, the real large-scale commercial cultivation of pearls is Japan's Miki Yukichi. After decades of experiments, he successfully cultivated pearl with shell in 1893 and obtained the patent right in 1896. 1905, Miki Uji dramatically obtained the first round of nucleated free beads. Since then, he has made round cores from shells, and successfully cultivated seawater pearls from Marcello Malpighi shells, opening up a new era of pearl industry, so he is honored as the "father of pearls".
In the 1920s, the Japanese conducted a freshwater pearl culture experiment in their only freshwater lake, Biwa Lake. After more than 20 years of repeated experiments, in 1940, they finally matured the outer membrane insertion technology, and the artificial culture technology of freshwater pearls also made great progress. Freshwater cultured pearls are marked with "Pipa Pearl" in European and American markets. It should be admitted that the Japanese have made great contributions to the development of modern pearl industry. In order to consolidate its monopoly position in the pearl industry, the Japanese government has stipulated the so-called "Three Principles of Pearl". It is forbidden to spread pearl breeding and processing technology. Since then, the artificial cultivation of Nanyang pearls and black pearls has been related to the Japanese.
In the mid-1980s, China expanded freshwater pearl culture, which submerged Japanese freshwater pearl culture, with an annual output exceeding1000t. By the end of the 20th century, a large number of Marcello Malpighi shellfish died year after year in Japanese waters, resulting in a sharp drop in the output of seawater pearls from 70 tons per year to below 10 tons per year. At the same time, the output of seawater pearls in China exceeded 20 tons. China has become a big pearl producer, ending the situation that the Japanese monopolized the world pearl industry for half a century.
At present, the pattern of world pearl production is roughly as follows:
(1) freshwater pearls: annual output: 1000 tons.
China accounts for 99%
The United States, Western Europe and Japan account for 1%.
(2) Seawater pearls: annual output: about 40 tons.
China accounts for 45%
Japan accounts for 45%
Vietnam and Myanmar account for 10%.
(3) Nanyang Pearl: Annual output: 6 tons.
Origin: Australia, Indonesia, Philippines.
(4) Black Pearl: Annual output: 20 ~ 30 tons.
Origin: Polynesia
In order to improve the technology, experts have been studying pearl shellfish. The expansion of yield is directly related to the popularization of artificial breeding of young shellfish in the late 1970s. Until now, seawater pearls are still cultured with Marcello Malpighi shellfish. In recent years, a large number of shellfish have died in Japan and China, so the output of seawater pearls has dropped by more than half. So far, experts have not found out the real reason. In view of this, it is unlikely that the annual output of seawater pearls will return to 80 ~ 90 tons in the near future.
Due to the limitation of water conditions, the submarine earthquake in the South Pacific and the El Ni? o phenomenon in recent years, it is difficult to expand the output of Nanyang pearls.
In the past few years, due to the blind expansion of production, the price of black pearls has dropped sharply. The Polynesian government has taken measures to control the annual output below 10 tons, but the actual output is still 20 tons.
Almost all freshwater pearls are produced in China. At present, due to the spontaneous production of farmers, it is difficult to strictly control, and it is difficult to accurately estimate the specific output.
It is worth noting that once the output of freshwater nucleated pearls in Xieshaohe River is expanded, it will definitely impact the market of seawater pearls and freshwater pearls. Moreover, he recently cultivated "nucleated regenerated pearls", which greatly improved the color of pearls.
In addition, in recent years, some farmers have found another way out from pearl varieties. Penguin shells have special colors and rainbow effects, so they have been used to cultivate pearls with shells. Lu Ajian of Dadongshan Company in Taiwan Province Province raised a large number of pearls with shells in Hainan Island and made exquisite pendants, which attracted the attention of the pearl industry. Recently, Yin Chao of Beihai Yalong Jewelry Company used penguin shells to cultivate beads, which made full use of the rainbow effect and achieved good results.
Freshwater pearls are mainly composed of Hyriopsis cumingii and mussels. However, due to the good color of Hyriopsis cumingii, almost no one has used mussels in recent years. Xie Shaohe used mussels to cultivate high-quality shellfish. Recently, he repaired a delicate and realistic head bead. At the same time, he also achieved remarkable results in the experiment of nucleated round beads. Compared with Hyriopsis cumingii, Hyriopsis cumingii has strong disease resistance, huge size and white body color. Therefore, large-particle, white freshwater nucleated beads can be cultivated.
China people cultivated Buddha beads for the first time in the Song Dynasty, which created a precedent for human beings to cultivate pearls. Nowadays, the production of beads has risen again, which may indicate a new way of pearl production.