In the first half of this year, China's gold jewelry consumption volume fell by 30% year-on-year to 136 tonnes, yet the total spending value rose by 5% to 143.7 billion yuan. This striking trend of "declining volume but rising value" comes from the World Gold Council's "2026 China Gold Jewelry Retail Trends Insight" report, released in Shanghai on September 4.
Amid persistently high gold prices, Chinese consumers are buying fewer gold ornaments, and the scenarios for wearing gold jewelry are also shifting. A survey conducted by the council, in partnership with the China Gold Economic Development Research Center, polled 744 gold jewelry retail professionals. The findings reveal that self-adornment now accounts for 44% of gold jewelry consumption in 2026, up from 27% in 2024 and 37% in 2025, marking three consecutive years of growth and surpassing other occasions like gifting and weddings.
Soaring gold prices have dampened consumer appetite for heavy, large-weight pieces, while the rising share of self-adornment makes design, comfort, and personal expression far more critical. As a result, hard gold, which offers both lightweight construction and greater design flexibility, has become a key direction for gold brands adjusting their product portfolios. Hard gold is not higher-purity gold; rather, it involves enhancing the hardness of 24-karat gold through advanced craftsmanship. Once hardness is increased, gold can be crafted into hollow, three-dimensional, or intricately patterned designs, delivering a larger visual presence with less material, thereby reducing the overall price per item.
Xia Hongchuan, a director at Chow Tai Seng Jewellery Co Ltd, told Wall Street News and other outlets that hard gold achieves a Vickers hardness of over 60 HV, with some products exceeding 100 HV. For example, certain hard gold bead pieces from the company carry an average price of roughly 1,000 to 2,000 yuan per item. The World Gold Council has also promoted this category for four consecutive years. According to the council's timeline, the focus in 2023 was on building category awareness, expanding to highlight product features like "hard, light, and shiny" in 2024, and emphasizing brand spirit and self-expression among younger consumers in 2025.
This year, the council's marketing push has shifted further toward everyday wear, using the popular MBTI personality test among young people as an entry point. On September 4, the World Gold Council, along with twelve retail brands including Chow Tai Fook, Lao Feng Xiang, and Caibai Jewelry, launched a new promotional campaign in Shanghai under the theme "Hard Gold, Reflect Your True Self, Wear It This Way." The marketing efforts are simultaneously rolling out across offline channels and social media platforms. From September 4 to 16, the council collaborated with Little Red Book's lifestyle arm MOODSFIT to set up four personality-themed photo spots at stores on Shanghai's Yuyuan Road and also placed advertisements on a large LED screen in the Lujiazui area.
For gold retail brands, hard gold offers a product solution that aligns closely with current consumption shifts, driven by high prices, lighter weights, and rising self-adornment demand: lowering the per-item cost while preserving design appeal and wearing comfort. Whether brands can effectively capture this demand is now becoming the new competitive battleground in the gold jewelry sector.
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