How China’s ‘Crystal Capital’ Cornered the Market on a Western Obsession

At the Big Purple Crystal warehouse successful eastbound China’s Donghai County, hundreds of imported amethyst geodes are lined up successful rows, their spiky insides unfastened arsenic if mid-scream. Some are shaped similar eggs and perched connected carved woody stands. One crystal rides connected the backmost of a bixi, a mythical carnal with the assemblage of a turtle and the caput of a dragon. On shelves and successful boxes lining the level are countless smaller geodes astir the size of fists, the benignant you mightiness find successful a caller property acquisition shop. The owner, Liu Junwen, sits successful flip-flops down his desk, which is, of course, an tremendous amethyst geode topped with glass.

Mineral abundance isn’t antithetic successful Donghai. Liu whitethorn not adjacent beryllium the biggest relation connected this block. Over the past fewer decades, the region has transformed from an unremarkable backwater into the “crystal capital” of China and, arguably, the world. In 2023, its crystal commercialized was estimated to beryllium worthy much than $5.5 billion. Liu is among immoderate 300,000 people—about a 4th of section residents—who enactment straight successful the concern arsenic dealers, wholesalers, livestreamers, gemologists, crystal cutters, mill managers, bead stringers, exporters, and freight agents. Together, they orchestrate a planetary market: The operation of Brazilian amethyst successful a London yoga studio, the Colombian quartz connected the reception table of a Miami Botox clinic, the Zambian citrine successful an overpriced tourer store successful Tulum—chances are, a batch of them passed done Donghai.

Liu is the archetypal to admit that nary of this is normal. “I grew up successful a colony wherever astir each household was impoverished,” helium says. “It feels unbelievable that crystals could marque you rich.” But stories similar his are communal successful Donghai. Nearly everyone we spoke with, from cab drivers and young entrepreneurs to livestreamers and longtime traders, described it arsenic a spot defined by surges of accidental followed by abrupt crashes, wherever accusation travels accelerated and margins tin evaporate overnight. People are perpetually rushing to bargain and merchantability the shiniest caller thing, often lone to recognize the marketplace has already shifted and idiosyncratic other caught the question first.

Western lawmakers and analysts person agelong argued that China became the world’s mill by exploiting inexpensive labour and distorting planetary markets. Donghai offers an alternate account: It shows however China’s concern emergence emerged successful ample portion from agrarian villages, astatine a infinitesimal erstwhile hundreds of millions of radical were hopeless to flight poorness and saw planetary capitalism arsenic a mode out. The region became a glittering crystal mecca not needfully due to the fact that of top-down concern policy, but due to the fact that of a astir all-consuming thrust to hustle.

Tectonic Shift

“Nature has been precise benignant to Donghai,” explains a plaque astatine the Donghai Crystal Museum, a much than 300,000-square-foot gathering shaped similar a elephantine jagged crystal. The region sits connected the Tan-Lu fault, which stretches on China’s eastbound coast. Over millions of years, tectonic enactment created fractures that filled with silica-rich fluids, which dilatory crystallized into deposits of wide quartz.

For generations, farmers successful Donghai recovered crystals successful their fields and turned them into jewelry and ornaments. After the Communists took implicit successful 1949, crystal mining was folded into the planned economy, and commercialized extraction was banned. The cardinal authorities recognized quartz arsenic a strategical earthy resource, utile for things similar making optical lenses, and implicit clip a sizable civilian workforce sprouted up successful Donghai. When Mao Zedong died successful 1976, the begetter of the Chinese Communist Party was laid to remainder successful a transparent coffin made with the finest Donghai quartz.

Rural China was inactive profoundly poor; decades of collectivized farming had kept incomes low. After Deng Xiaoping took powerfulness and loosened immoderate of the government’s rigid economical controls, radical abruptly had the state to physique small, scrappy businesses known arsenic township and colony enterprises. Their occurrence blindsided adjacent apical enactment leaders. “Every year, township and colony industries achieved 20 percent growth,” Deng aboriginal reflected to a radical of journalists. “This was not thing I had thought about. Nor had the different comrades. This amazed us.”

Villages looked for niches they could capable successful the planetary market. The municipality of Xuchang, for instance, capitalized connected its bequest of making hairpieces for opera performers—and connected the willingness of agrarian women to merchantability their achromatic ponytails—and turned itself into a hub for wigs. Zhuangzhai became the largest supplier of caskets to Japan, successful portion done its proximity to groves of paulownia, a lightweight, slow-burning wood favored successful Japanese cremation ceremonies. The municipality of Qiaotou became the world’s button-making superior aft 3 brothers recovered a fistful of discarded buttons successful a gutter and decided to resell them, oregon truthful the communicative goes.

Donghai already had plentifulness of quartz and skilled labor, arsenic good arsenic entrepreneurs who were consenting to experiment. Wu Qingfeng, a erstwhile exertion astatine the Crystal Museum who present leads footwear camps for wannabe crystal entrepreneurs, says that successful the precocious 1980s, artisans learned to modify washing instrumentality motors truthful they could polish crystal necklaces, antecedently a manual job. When determination wasn’t capable earthy crystal to support up with demand, manufacturers resorted to solid from brew bottles to marque beads. People successful Donghai told america they callback the shortage becoming truthful dire astatine 1 constituent that restaurants and bars ran retired of beer.

Around the aforesaid time, amerciable mining was spiraling retired of control. All the digging was causing roads to illness and houses to sink, sometimes starring to injuries and deaths, according to Chinese media. In precocious 2001, Donghai County authorities warned of an impending crackdown connected unauthorized mining. With the home crystal proviso tightening up, section entrepreneurs were progressively traveling each implicit the satellite to find caller sources of earthy material. As 1 enforcement from a crystal manufacture radical told a newspaper, “Wherever determination are earthy stones, determination are radical from Donghai.”

Venturing to far-flung locales was seen not arsenic daring but simply arsenic the default mode of doing business, says Kyle Chan, a chap astatine the Brookings Institution who specializes successful Chinese concern policy. In China, there’s “this idea, astir similar overconfidence, that you tin conscionable spell wherever successful the satellite and outwork and outmaneuver whoever,” Chan says. People thin not to “see the taste barriers as, like, existent barriers.”

Wu Qingfeng says that Donghai traders were astonished by the riches to beryllium recovered abroad. They learned astir tremendous deposits successful Africa, helium says, aft radical successful a neighboring state traveled determination to enactment successful a humanitarian project. Some countries had truthful overmuch quartz that they were paving roads with it. In Donghai, the crystal deposits are scattered, Wu says, “but erstwhile you spell to Madagascar, Zambia, the Congo, and different countries, you find that the section roseate quartz is similar coal—an full upland is roseate quartz.”

Liu, the proprietor of Big Purple Crystal, says helium began traveling overseas to look for amethyst astir a decennary ago. His archetypal halt was Brazil. “I got a inexpensive level summons and brought on a translator,” helium says. “The adjacent day, I bought my archetypal shipping container—about 20 tons of goods.” But Liu struggled to marque money, truthful helium searched for opportunities elsewhere. At the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show successful Arizona, a sprawling yearly gathering, helium came crossed awesome amethyst pieces from Uruguay, and helium decided to spell there.

The Livestreamer-in-Chief

It’s 7 am, and the earthy crystal flea marketplace successful Donghai’s Xingxi colony is bustling. Merchants beryllium successful camping chairs and bicker beside tarps piled with stones. Artisans prime up unassuming rocks and radiance almighty flashlights done them. A livestreamer holds a large container of pinkish crystal bracelets with 1 manus and shouts into a tiny telephone helium clutches with the other. “200 units astatine conscionable 9.9!” helium barks. An aged villager watching adjacent does immoderate speedy mathematics nether his breath—almost $300 for conscionable 5 minutes of broadcasting. There’s a hint of awe successful his voice; possibly a interaction of envy too.

The livestreamer, Zhao Zhonggang, is the Communist Party caput of Xingxi, a colony of immoderate 4,000 radical wherever helium says astir 70 percent of residents enactment successful the crystal trade. Online, wherever he’s known arsenic the Crystal Secretary, Zhao posts videos of his regular life—touring the flea marketplace to assistance vendors sell, chatting with elders, and playing hoops with section kids. One of the biggest concerns for crystal buyers is the hazard of fakes, and fewer things are much reassuring than an authoritative title. Zhao’s credibility carries truthful overmuch value that fans person driven crossed the state conscionable to conscionable him successful person, according to section media reports.

Zhao is simply a peculiarly Chinese benignant of politician, the merchandise of a strategy that evaluates officials based connected however their districts execute economically. In this world, the bound betwixt governing and doing concern blurs. Zhao’s bureau isn’t successful immoderate stately municipal building—it’s down the hallway from a store wherever women drawstring crystal bracelets by hand. Right extracurricular the doorway is simply a stockpile of crystal skulls, zodiac animals, and adjacent penises. (Overseas customers similar products similar this that are “a spot strange-looking,” 1 of Zhao’s employees explains. “There’s simply nary marketplace for them successful China.”)

Zhao’s travel began successful 2012, erstwhile helium became an adjunct for a adjacent colony committee. He noticed that piles of crystal fragments from section workshops were being wasted. Later, nether his leadership, villagers began repurposing them for higher-end products. They arranged the bits into mosaic lampshades and sewed them into “healing” pillows and mattresses, contributing to millions of dollars successful home and planetary sales.

Zhao was transferred to Xingxi successful 2019. As pandemic lockdowns pushed commerce online, helium launched an relationship connected Douyin, the Chinese mentation of TikTok, and racked up followers, helping Xingxi gain the nickname “24/7 Livestream Village.” At first, radical were broadcasting mostly to home shoppers. But the pursuing year, the clattering dependable of Donghai crystals began radiating from smartphones crossed the US and UK.

Under the glow of ringing lights, TikTok livestreamers plunged metallic scoops into monolithic buckets, pouring amethyst bracelets, chunks of lapis, and towers of wide quartz into baskets and integrative bags. Above the sparkling piles, signs beckoned viewers to walk betwixt $2.99 and $9.99 for their ain “lucky scoop.” By the extremity of 2022, crystals had go 1 of the best-selling products connected TikTok Shop globally.

“There was explosive growth,” Liu recalls. “The full crystal manufacture was shipping to the US.” Local residents opened livestreaming “supermarkets,” wherever hundreds of streamers could broadcast astatine once. The authorities simplified licensing and compliance requirements and partnered with a authorities slope to motorboat a foreign-currency colony program, lowering the outgo of selling straight to buyers abroad.

Together, these initiatives helped Donghai illness the aged crystal proviso chain. Instead of passing done layers of wholesalers and retail stores, goods could present travel consecutive from the crystal superior to overseas consumers, cutting retired the middlemen and lowering prices. “Donghai radical were highly bully astatine the internet,” says Liu. At the market’s peak, helium says, Big Purple Crystal could merchantability an full shipping instrumentality of amethyst successful 1 oregon 2 hours.

Wu Qingfeng, the footwear campy instructor, says this aureate play lasted a twelvemonth oregon two. Some companies recruited live-streamers who had nary nonrecreational acquisition and could talk lone a small English. They would spell connected camera and accidental each kinds of nonsense, Wu recalls, and inactive perchance marque thousands of dollars a day. But past customers started to drawback connected that antithetic sellers were broadcasting from the aforesaid building, Wu says: “Everyone understood: It turned retired you were each 1 Chinese supermarket.”

Customers started searching for the champion deals, and a brutal terms warfare broke retired successful Donghai. “This cross-border supermarket concern became mutually malicious competition,” says Wu. TikTok besides started cracking down connected scammier, low-quality crystal content, and adjacent the fortunate scoop format was yet banned. By the summertime of 2023, helium says, galore small- and midsize crystal businesses started to get wiped out.

The downturn has dragged on. But successful Donghai, different surge ever feels conscionable astir the corner. Inside 1 market, a motion advertised “crystal explicit loans” for section merchants, with flexible repayment presumption designed to support currency flowing. At a seminar for cross-border sellers, a typical from China Mobile, the state-owned telecom, advertised a work that lets companies bypass China’s alleged Great Firewall to acceptable up shops connected planetary platforms similar TikTok and Temu. It was pitched arsenic a government-approved substitute for VPNs, which are tightly restricted successful China.

In the US, the halfway tactics Donghai has used—subsidizing section businesses, gathering communal infrastructure, and aggressively pursuing planetary marketplace share—are viewed with heavy suspicion. Rather than savvy improvement tools, US lawmakers and pundits person framed them arsenic unfair practices that undermine “market-oriented competition” and enactment American companies astatine a disadvantage. This rhetoric has fueled a fashionable communicative astir China’s economical maturation that is incomplete, reduced to small much than nefarious authorities interference.

Pressing On

Just crossed the thoroughfare from Liu’s warehouse sits International Crystal Jewelry City Plaza, a megamall packed with immoderate 7,000 businesses hawking everything from stretchy bracelet cord to escaped emeralds. A flea marketplace is happening retired beforehand today, and Wu is preparing 20 oregon truthful of his footwear campy students for the impending chaos.

“When buying astatine the market, don’t inquire the vendor if it’s existent oregon fake—don’t,” Wu says. “They’ll deliberation you can’t adjacent tell, truthful wherefore wouldn’t they scam you?”

Another tip: Don’t beryllium excessively anxious to stockpile inventory, due to the fact that prices fluctuate. White quartz, helium explains, present sells for conscionable 10 to 20 percent of its astir caller high. “What are you expected to bash with that inventory if you bought it astatine the higher price?” Wu asks. “How overmuch ‘mystical energy’ would you person to adhd to it earlier you could adjacent merchantability it?” He tells the students helium precocious heard astir the proprietor of a crystal mill who bought a immense bid of achromatic quartz earlier prices dropped and ended up jumping disconnected a building.

A fewer blocks away, a antithetic benignant of glittering manufacture is connected the emergence successful Donghai: elaborate, gem-encrusted press-on nails. News reports tout press-ons arsenic the region’s adjacent signature export, portion of a alleged “fingertip economy” built astir small, handmade goods designed for livestreaming and accelerated planetary shipping. One wholesaler estimates that Donghai already produces astir 70 percent of China’s press-on nails, astatine a standard of astir 400,000 sets a day.

At 1 nail shop, the walls are lined with metallic racks of wide integrative packages, each containing a acceptable of 10 nails. There are hundreds of options, and they each outgo little than $2. A hedonistic impulse takes over, and we statesman grabbing things—shimmery airy pinkish nails painted with swirling koi fish, a agelong greenish acceptable with 3D lotus flowers glued connected each thumb. In the country of the store is simply a workstation splattered with nail polish and glue, hinting astatine the painstaking quality labour down the finished products.

The shop’s owner, a pistillate successful her forties with a young daughter, tells america she brings successful $200,000 to $300,000 annually, income she credits mostly to livestreaming. Business is particularly beardown successful niche markets similar Japan and South Korea, wherever she says contention is thinner and margins are higher. As the store proprietor chats with america and sorts done paperwork, a young pistillate livestreamer stands successful beforehand of a rack, speaking into her telephone successful Japanese. She holds up a acceptable of nails, tilting them backmost and forth, arsenic a ribbon of airy flashes crossed their surface. The colour is similar heavy bluish quartz—saturated and luminous.

What Say You?
Let america cognize what you deliberation astir this nonfiction successful the comments below. Alternatively, you tin taxable a missive to the exertion at [email protected].