Young private gold industry looks to future

Labor, capital-intensive jewelry sector embracing high tech and automation

The Chinese people have a long history of loving gold, as the earliest trace of the precious metal was found in a royal tomb dating back 3,000 years. Yet, the modern, private gold industry is surprisingly young.

"In the early 1990s, Yantian was nothing but a shabby village of migrant workers," said Zhou Taolin, founder of gold jewelry maker Batar Group, referring to Yantian district of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, neighboring Hong Kong.