Chinese freshwater pearls compete with traditional sea bred gems

AP Television News Shanghai, November 30, 2011 1. Detail shot of dark Tahitian pearl necklace with a 10,000,000 yuan price tag (USD $1.6 million). 2. Mid shot of shop assistant tiding up pearl necklaces. 3. Detail shot of pearl necklaces 4. Wide shot of shop staff taking out pearl chokers from boxes 5. Detail shot of pearls in hands 6. Mid shot of Robert Wan, the 'pearl emperor' of Tahiti 7. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Wan, founder, 'Robert Wan' "The freshwater pearl, I am sorry to say that, but after certain time, the lustre will become soft. Then, the seawater (pearl) is always remaining the same." AP Television News Shanxiahu suburbs, Zhejiang province, November 17, 2011 8. Pan from right to left of wide shot of water pond 9. Wide shot of water pond 10. Mid shot of He Xiaodong, vice manager of Sier Jewellery, and pull out to paddle lifting mussel net 11. Mid shot of Mr. He and tilt down to mussel net on the boat 12. Detail shot of knife opening mussel 13. Detail shot of mussel and pearls inside UPSOUND (Mandarin) "There are pearls inside, very big pearls" 14. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) He Xiaodong, Vice Manager, Sier Jewellery Co. Ltd. "We split open one mussel. And then we open another one to slice its meat. We use some techniques to introduce that meat into the first mussel, which is around 10 centimetres in size, like this size here, can you see? This is the first process." 15. Detail shot of two mussels wide open with pearls inside 16. Pan from left to right of mussel interior AP Television News Shanxiahu, Zhejiang province, November 17, 2011 17. Pan from left to right of wide shot of mussel processing facility 18. Wide shot of workers opening mussels 19. Wide shot of workers emptying mussels 20. Detail shot of worker's hand handling mussels 21. Detail shot of bucket with mussel meat and pearls 22. Mid shot following a worker who is transporting buckets 23. Tilt up from buckets to mid shot of worker introducing the mix in machine 24. Detail shot of liquid coming out of machine 25. Wide shot of worker dragging bucket and pouring water inside 26. Detail shot of hands washing pearls and water being removed AP Television News Zhuji, Zhejiang province, November 17, 2011 27. Detail shot of machine to sort out sizes of pearls 28. Pan down from mid shot of worker to detail shot of machine 29. Wide shot of factory room with Xuan Tiefei, general manager of Sier Jewellery leaning towards baskets of pearls 30. Close of pearls in hand 31. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Xuan Tiefei, General Manager, Sier Jewellery Co. Ltd. "We developed new products. After we achieved that, our products can even compete with the saltwater pearls coming from the South Pacific. The situation right now for us is that there are still very few good quality pearls; most of them are of bad quality. But we are improving and developing new products every year." 32. Wide shot of workshop 33. Mid shot of worker at workshop 34. Detail shot of process of perforating pearls 35. Detail shot of workers' hands sorting out pearls 36. Various woman sorting pearls 37. Wide shot of pearl sculpture in Zhuji's Shanxiahu township 38. Detail shot of pearl sculpture 39. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Xuan Tiefei, General Manager, Sier Jewellery Co. Ltd. "The jewellery industry is very unfair. We, as wholesalers, are making the rough process, but our profits are very limited. Once we are faced with something like the financial crisis, it's easy for us to lose all the business. That's why we have to do the processing. We make the products and sell them directly to the consumers, so we can avoid the middlemen that increase the costs a lot. That way our profits can increase." 40. Tilt down from mid of Mr. Xuan to table with pearls AP Television News LEADIN You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/9d4635ee127ca6efa202c3ff97235d84 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork