Hong Kong is one of the world's leading markets for jewelry.

香港是世界主要珠寶市場(chǎng)之一。

In Hall Seven of Hong Kong's Convention and Exhibition Center, table after table is stacked with strings of pearls, looking more like a rummage sale than a display of luxury and elegance. Most of the pearls are from one country: China.

香港會(huì)展中心7號(hào)展廳內(nèi)珍珠連排擺放，看似清倉(cāng)拍賣(mài)而不象是奢華品展示。大部分珍珠都來(lái)自中國(guó)。

Didier Brodbeck, a French pearl expert, says Chinese fresh water pearls now account for about 95 percent of the world's total pearl production.

布羅德貝克是法國(guó)珍珠出口商人。他說(shuō)，中國(guó)淡水珍珠現(xiàn)在占據(jù)世界珍珠生產(chǎn)總量的大約95%。

"The boom is very recent, maybe 10 years ago, but the pearls are getting better and better, bigger and bigger, and more attractive, you know," said Brodbeck. "In the early days, they were not very good quality pearls. They are still very, very cheap, because the production is so big."

布羅德貝克說(shuō)：“珍珠生產(chǎn)暴漲是不久之前的事情，可能就是10年前，但是珍珠現(xiàn)在變得越來(lái)越好、越來(lái)越大、越來(lái)越有吸引力。他們?cè)谠缙诘臅r(shí)候質(zhì)量并不是很好。他們現(xiàn)在依然非常廉價(jià)，因?yàn)楫a(chǎn)量是如此巨大。”

While mass cultivation has caused the price of pearls to drop dramatically in the past few years, South Sea pearls from countries such as Polynesia and Australia remain expensive. This is because they are more rare, because they develop naturally in oysters in the sea.

盡管大規(guī)模養(yǎng)殖導(dǎo)致珍珠價(jià)格過(guò)去幾年中巨幅下降，但是來(lái)自波利尼西亞和澳大利亞的南海珍珠的價(jià)格繼續(xù)居高不下，因?yàn)樗鼈冊(cè)诤Ｋ�牡蠣中自然生成�?/P>

Brodbeck says Hong Kong has become the center of the pearl business in the past decade, after taking over from the previous pearl capital, Kobe, Japan. But Brodbeck says Hong Kong may lose its position to a newly created city in mainland China. Pearl City, in Zhuji, on the Yangtze River is set to open later this year. It aims at becoming the world's leading center for the cultivation and trade of pearls.

布羅德貝克說(shuō)，香港過(guò)去10年中取代珍珠之都的日本神戶，成為珍珠商業(yè)中心。但是他說(shuō)，中國(guó)大陸一個(gè)新建的城市可能會(huì)取代香港的地位。長(zhǎng)江流域的諸暨珍珠城計(jì)劃今年晚些時(shí)候開(kāi)張，目的是成為世界上最主要的珍珠養(yǎng)殖與交易中心。

"They want to take the business away from Kobe and Hong Kong and have a world pearl market open every day of the week, all year round, so people can buy any kind of pearls, and they want the Chinese, the Japanese, Polynesians - everybody to come who has interest in dealing with pearls," he said. "And, when the project will be done they expect to have like 4500 firms established there that will be open seven days a week."

布羅德貝克說(shuō)：“他們希望從神戶和香港手中把生意搶走，并且一年四季每天都有一個(gè)世界珍珠市場(chǎng)在那里開(kāi)張。這樣人們可以購(gòu)買(mǎi)任何珍珠。他們也希望中國(guó)人、日本人、波利尼西亞人，每位希望珍珠交易的人都前往珍珠城。項(xiàng)目完成之后，他們預(yù)計(jì)會(huì)有大約4千5百家公司在那里立足，每周7天營(yíng)業(yè)。”

Hong Kong's International Jewelry Show is the world's third largest fair of its kind. More than 2300 exhibitors participated in the latest fair, setting a record.

香港國(guó)際珠寶展覽會(huì)是世界上第三大珠寶展，參展商超過(guò)2千3百家，創(chuàng)下新的記錄。

Hong Kong is the world's fourth-largest exporter of precious jewelry. The city is also the world's biggest exporter of imitation jewelry and a leading producer of gold items.

香港是世界上第四大稀有珠寶的出口地，也是世界上仿造珠寶最大的出口地和黃金產(chǎn)品的主要生產(chǎn)地。

Many producers have been affected by rising gold prices. The price surged more than 30 percent in the past year, reaching a historic high of almost $1,000 an ounce this month.

很多制造商都受到黃金價(jià)格上漲的影響。黃金價(jià)格去年飆升超過(guò)30%，本月幾乎達(dá)到一盎司售價(jià)1千美元的歷史新高。

This Hong Kong producer of gold jewelry, who mainly sells to the United States, says his profit has shrunk because now customers buy cheaper items.

一位主要向美國(guó)出口的香港黃金珠寶制造商說(shuō)，現(xiàn)在顧客都購(gòu)買(mǎi)廉價(jià)商品，讓他的利潤(rùn)縮水。

"Looking at Valentine's Day sales' turnover, for example, was the units haven't really gone down in America - the sales value has definitely gone down," he said. "Also, the buyers ask for a lot more silver products which we don't specialize in, and silver and gold."

他說(shuō)：“比如說(shuō)，看看情人節(jié)的銷售額，就可以發(fā)現(xiàn)商品數(shù)量在美國(guó)并沒(méi)有下降，而是銷售額下降。而且買(mǎi)家對(duì)銀質(zhì)產(chǎn)品的需求增加，而我們并不是銀質(zhì)產(chǎn)品的行家。”

Some parts of the world have remained relatively unaffected by higher gold prices. Simon Yau, with the World Gold Council, says in China, demand remains high.

世界上有些地區(qū)相比之下沒(méi)有受到黃金價(jià)格升高的影響。

"For example the last year, in 2007, the gold demand in China is already (up) over something 20 percent," Yau noted. "Also in the first two months of this year - that means January and February - demand is still growing up comparing to last year. It is about 20-something percent growth compared to last year. We believe that retail and the consumer demand is still there. They have money."

世界黃金委員會(huì)的邱西蒙說(shuō)，中國(guó)對(duì)黃金的需求量依然很高。邱西蒙說(shuō)：“比如說(shuō)，中國(guó)對(duì)黃金的需求去年2007年已經(jīng)增加了大約20%。今年的頭兩個(gè)月，也就是1月和2月，對(duì)黃金的需求與去年同期相比依然上漲了大約20%。我們相信黃金零售和消費(fèi)需求依然存在。他們有錢(qián)。”

China became the world's second biggest gold buyer, last year, overtaking the United States. The world's biggest buyer remains India, where gifts of gold jewelry play an important part in weddings and other celebrations.

中國(guó)去年超越美國(guó)成為世界第二大黃金購(gòu)買(mǎi)國(guó)，僅次于印度。印度黃金珠寶禮物在婚禮和其它慶祝活動(dòng)中扮演主要角色。

In both India and China, there is a growing interest in diamonds, as a symbol of newly acquired wealth. This employee of an Israeli diamond firm says that as sales in the United States have fallen, because of the economic downturn there. Her company increasingly focuses on India and China.

印度和中國(guó)都對(duì)鉆石的興趣不減，而鉆石是暴富的象征。以色列鉆石公司一位雇員說(shuō)，鉆石在美國(guó)的銷售因?yàn)榻?jīng)濟(jì)下滑而減少了。她的公司越來(lái)越將注意力集中到印度和中國(guó)。

"At one time, it was just China was buying for production and exporting. Now, they are buying for their own consumption," she said. "And, the same with India. India used to buy and export - just for manufacturing and then export it and now the Indian population, 10 percent of the Indian population is very, very wealthy and that 10 percent people have now become very interested in diamonds and the money they have is phenomenal."

她說(shuō)：“中國(guó)一度只為生產(chǎn)和出口而購(gòu)買(mǎi)鉆石，現(xiàn)在卻是為自身消費(fèi)而購(gòu)買(mǎi)鉆石。印度也是這樣。印度過(guò)去為加工然后出口而購(gòu)買(mǎi)鉆石，現(xiàn)在印度10%的人口非常富有，這10%的人現(xiàn)在對(duì)鉆石非常感興趣，而且他們有很多的錢(qián)。”

It is India's fashionable youth who are driving diamond sales. They see diamonds as more trendy than traditional gold. With a large population of educated young adults entering the job market in India, traders at the Hong Kong fair expect to see a strong market there for years.

驅(qū)動(dòng)鉆石銷售的是印度時(shí)尚的年輕一族。在他們的眼中，鉆石要比傳統(tǒng)黃金更為時(shí)尚。隨著受過(guò)教育的年輕一代進(jìn)入印度就業(yè)市場(chǎng)，香港展覽會(huì)里的商人們預(yù)計(jì)會(huì)看到印度鉆石市場(chǎng)的未來(lái)無(wú)限商機(jī)。