1.1 South Sea Pearls Cultivation History

As early as 4000 years ago, Chinese people discovered a kind of delicate gem when searching the ocean for food. That is the earliest form of pearls. Since then, the talented Chinese people began to use pearls to make some decorations for beauty. Hence, China is the earliest country to culture seawater pearls around the world. At first, these oysters were abundant and easily found in the sandy shallow waters of the bay. However, as the demands grew, it became more and more difficult to find oysters in the shallow waters. People began to dive to greater depths at the risk of their lives. Hence, people invented the cultural technique of south sea pearls.

1.2 South Sea Pearl Today

The south sea pearls cultivation surrounds the whole area of Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Mie and some other palces in Japan around the world. Mie country is the famous production place of cultured south sea pearl with best quality, large size (9-10mm) and high luster. Today, artificial breeding has been realized no matter for the freshwater pearls or seawater pearls. The nucleation culturing technique is responsible for the south sea pearls, therefore there is a nuclear made of shells or bones.

As a group, the Japanese are still the most proficient at nucleation. Their skilled and precise work yields the highest quality cultured pearls. The nacre thickness of seawater pearls is only 0.3-0.8mm. We all know that the nacre of cultured freshwater pearls is 100%. But if we want to make south sea pearls with 100% nacre, we must get rid of the nuclear. If this so, the price of the south sea pearls will be sky-high. Currently, due to the high technology and the improvement of growth environment, the quality of south sea pearls are getting better and better, plus the exquisite handicraft of the talented people, the pearls decorations look gorgeous.