The market for diamonds is booming, says Christina Hudson, marketing director for the Diamond Trading Company, the marketing arm of De Beers - and wealthy, independent Hong Kong career women are helping to drive the boom
The difference in Hong Kong and Asia compared to the rest of the world is that women are buying diamonds for themselves. There's a lot of self-reward in Asia and that's very unique to the region. Of course, a woman wouldn't accept an engagement without her ring. There's nothing that says, 'I love you' more than a diamond at that point in life. But after that, she will add to her accumulation of diamonds for her full jewellery portfolio.
Women here are quite amazingly empowered. The percentage of women who are now in the Hong Kong millionaire category is very large. Career women are quite powerful in Asia. They are emancipated women who go out and do things for themselves, who don't wait for someone else. Often the man will offer to buy a gift for the woman in terms of diamonds, but she will still be the one who goes out and actually fields the purchase.
Diamonds have an emotional appeal. There is no other gem that can express human emotion more powerfully than a diamond. We did research last year in Hong Kong and found that as far as desire is concerned, when we asked women what they would buy if money was no object and they could have anything in the luxury goods market, some 95 per cent said they would buy diamonds. They chose diamonds over watches, luxury bags and trips overseas. The others lagged quite far behind.
Demand on the mainland has also been much more aggressive. Since the end of the Cultural Revolution, when jewellery was banned, diamonds have come to mean similar things to what they represent in the rest of the world.
Wedding rings with diamonds are so prevalent now in places like Shanghai and Beijing that eight out of 10 women who get married in Shanghai today will actually get a diamond wedding ring. In Beijing it's seven out of 10. A few years ago it would probably have been half that.
