Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Destinations > Asia > China
Reload this Page >

Wearing jewelry in China

Wearing jewelry in China

Old Jul 6, 2005, 1:44 am
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Programs: AA Plat + 1MM, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond, Hertz Pres. Circle.
Posts: 63
Question Wearing jewelry in China

I feal silly asking this as I cannot imagine actually worrying about it, but my wife has heard that she should not wear her wedding/engagement ring in China because someone might cut off her finger to steal it. Is this a common occurance (its no hope diamond)? or is this more fear mongering from her mother? We'll only be in Beijing and Shanghai and don't plan on going to any remote villages or anything (unless I can get a great deal for one of my kidneys) .

Paranoid?
Rothsix
Rothsix is offline  
Old Jul 6, 2005, 3:37 am
  #2  
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Terra Australis Cognita
Posts: 5,350
Chinese tell the same story when they warn others about going to Indonesia (although the variant I heard involved cutting off an entire hand to get a watch). Draw your own conclusions.
jpatokal is offline  
Old Jul 6, 2005, 7:22 am
  #3  
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: SIN/CLE
Programs: UA GS/1K, SQ SilverKris, DL MM-Silver
Posts: 2,099
Unless you are bound and determined to "walk on the wild side" and expereience some of the seamier elements of Chinese cities, you will have absolutely no problem with personal security as a western visitor. Tourist $ and business investment are too valuable to Chinese government/society for problems to be tolerated.

Now, if you are an ethnic Chinese visitor, again finding yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, your personal security odds go down a bit. Too easy to mistake you for a local, or worse yet a rich Chinese diaspora visitor.

Often read of HKers visitng Shenzhen getting into trouble. Rare to read of white westerners having problems, unless htey asked for them.
JHattery is offline  
Old Jul 6, 2005, 11:07 am
  #4  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Newport Beach, California, USA
Posts: 36,062
Originally Posted by Rothsix
I feal silly asking this as I cannot imagine actually worrying about it, but my wife has heard that she should not wear her wedding/engagement ring in China because someone might cut off her finger to steal it. Is this a common occurance (its no hope diamond)?
Slightly less common then it is in the U.S.

or is this more fear mongering from her mother? We'll only be in Beijing and Shanghai and don't plan on going to any remote villages or anything (unless I can get a great deal for one of my kidneys) .
I'll be interested to see your post when you return from your trip. Shanghai, in particular, is an incredibly modern city with infrastructure, architecture and facilities that surpass virtually all western cities that I can think of. You'll find the people in both cities prosperous and law-abiding. Shanghainese sometimes have a bit of an attitude -- they are justifiably proud of their cities and, like New Yorkers, think of there home as the center of the universe.

BTW, feel free to go to remote villages. Particularly around Shanghai there are some wonderful well-preserved ancient towns. We liked Tong Li, near Shanghai. I wouldn't exactly call it remote, but it's a preserved, medieval Chinese town (as well as a world historic site) that's wonderful to visit (though a bit touristy -- the Chinese like to visit it, too).

Paranoid?
Rothsix
Yes. Also racist and xenophobic (your mother-in-law, not you).
PTravel is offline  
Old Jul 6, 2005, 11:37 am
  #5  
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,681
americans often have an uninformed, ignorant, egocentric and paranoid global viewpoint. i frankly can't think of where you'd be less safe than in u.s. cities, or more safe than in chinese.
jtkauai is offline  
Old Jul 6, 2005, 11:46 am
  #6  
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: In Transit
Programs: PC Gold; SPG AAA; HiHo Silver; Hrtz Gld; Emld Clb; UA NWA NoBody; VA EleVAte; WN MooMoo
Posts: 1,657
If you travel to shopping areas in China, I am sure they will attempt to sell you jewelry.
goingsomewhere is offline  
Old Jul 6, 2005, 1:02 pm
  #7  
dawei
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Not sure if you meant to be funny, but your post is very offensive to me.
 
Old Jul 6, 2005, 3:44 pm
  #8  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Programs: AA Plat + 1MM, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond, Hertz Pres. Circle.
Posts: 63
Sorry Dawei, someone always gets offended. It was certainly not the intention.

My wife is Chinese and I am a full blown Gweilo. Her parents came to Canada from Hong Kong in the 70s and I think my MIL still thinks that China is as she remembers it. She tends to go on with the worrying as well (you should have heard what she said when I took my wife to New York).

My purpose was to get a bit of ammunition to provide my MIL to try to get her to worry (and fear-monger) less. This I think several of you have provided, and I am very grateful. She is a very nice lady, and I love her a lot, she just has a way of starting the panic off on the right foot. The kidney thing was one of her prior concerns.....

PTravel, thanks for the comments, and I fully expect that you will be right. I am a rather large ex-cop and I do not find myself afraid very often. There have been instances in several US cities where I thought I might be in for some trouble (Charlestown comes to mind immediately). I am trying to convince my wife that we should move over there somewhere and this is somewhat of an exploratory expedition.

Thanks everyone. At least I can tell my wife to go ahead and wear her ring.
Rothsix
Rothsix is offline  
Old Jul 6, 2005, 4:03 pm
  #9  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Newport Beach, California, USA
Posts: 36,062
Originally Posted by Rothsix
PTravel, thanks for the comments, and I fully expect that you will be right. I am a rather large ex-cop and I do not find myself afraid very often. There have been instances in several US cities where I thought I might be in for some trouble (Charlestown comes to mind immediately). I am trying to convince my wife that we should move over there somewhere and this is somewhat of an exploratory expedition.
Hey, I'm also a gweilo married to a Chinese woman! And we're also thinking about moving to China, at least part time, once I retire. I'm particularly enamoured with Beijing, though Shenzhen might be a more practical possibility (provided real estate prices don't continue to climb). I've told my wife, though, that I won't do it unless I can become reasonably fluent in Mandarin. I'm making very, very slow progress. I don't like the idea of living somewhere where I not only can't read the street signs, but can't even ask for directions.

When I first started visiting China, a little over 10 years ago, I felt safe walking down the darkest of dark alleys in the middle of the night. Public safety deteriorated a tiny bit when China privatized business ownership and a lot of people lost their "iron ricebowl" jobs. However, street crime of the kind that's a concern in the US has never been anywhere near as prevelant in China, partly because of culturual differences, but also because the PRC government simply doesn't tolerate it. Basically, you get to commit one street crime and, when you're caught (and you will be), your "career," freedom (and possibly a lot more) are over.
PTravel is offline  
Old Jul 6, 2005, 4:32 pm
  #10  
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: LAX, HKG
Programs: AA EXPLT, BA Gold, Shang Elite
Posts: 2,228
Chinese cities are very safe in general, in terms of safety you can almost compare them with HK, Seoul and Taipei. (perhaps with the exception of Shenzhen, where the population are majority migrants who could disappear without trace -- it is perhaps the single incidence where your finger-cutting story comes from. in fact the only similar story i heard of happened in HK about 10 years ago, where the lady was killed and the robbers have been stalking her for many days about that huge diamond ring.).
i see no problem wearing jewelry on the street, esp in broad daylight and in tourist areas where there are a lot of people. (but then all streets in china are packed with people )

if she has a gweilo next to her. she is a lot safer. because the potential thief/robber knows that if they mess with gweilo they would attract more attention from police

in my hundreds of trips into chinese cities, i often walk on streets even in the middle of the night. never ever saw a single robbery.

Last edited by pegasus8228; Jul 6, 2005 at 4:38 pm
pegasus8228 is offline  
Old Jul 8, 2005, 11:36 am
  #11  
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Tri-State Area
Posts: 4,728
Common Sense

Originally Posted by pegasus8228
Chinese cities are very safe in general, in terms of safety you can almost compare them with HK, Seoul and Taipei. (perhaps with the exception of Shenzhen, where the population are majority migrants who could disappear without trace -- it is perhaps the single incidence where your finger-cutting story comes from. in fact the only similar story i heard of happened in HK about 10 years ago, where the lady was killed and the robbers have been stalking her for many days about that huge diamond ring.).
i see no problem wearing jewelry on the street, esp in broad daylight and in tourist areas where there are a lot of people. (but then all streets in china are packed with people )

if she has a gweilo next to her. she is a lot safer. because the potential thief/robber knows that if they mess with gweilo they would attract more attention from police


in my hundreds of trips into chinese cities, i often walk on streets even in the middle of the night. never ever saw a single robbery.
China is safe but like everywhere else, common sense prevails.

If you walk around flaunting your diamonds, you're only asking for trouble. Having said that, Chinese (as most Asians) luv their gold studded Rolex, etc. (are they real or not is the question).
dtsm is offline  
Old Jul 8, 2005, 11:45 am
  #12  
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Europe & Middle East
Programs: BA GGL (LTG), Marriott LT Titanium, EK Plat, Amex Cent
Posts: 899
I have just got back from a 3 week vacation in China. I wear a Rolex, my wife a Breitling + diamond rings. We were in Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu and Juizhaigou. Never once did we feel threatened and all our fingers and kidneys returned safely with us.

The biggest problem we had was over-friendly Chinese wanting to take our photo's and practice their english!!

Enjoy China - it's just great!!
nimeta is offline  
Old Jul 8, 2005, 12:15 pm
  #13  
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: LAX, HKG
Programs: AA EXPLT, BA Gold, Shang Elite
Posts: 2,228
of course, common sense prevail. e.g. don't go around and tell people how pricey and how authentic they are. that is attracting trouble.

china does have its criminals. but a few things about china works in your favor
1. culturally chinese are law abiding -- 2000 years of education on obeying authority
2. there were tight control and severe penalty back in the Mao era, still ripple through today (though weaker).
3. as indicated above, too many people wearing fake (eg rolex), it is hard for the average thug to know what is real
pegasus8228 is offline  
Old Jul 11, 2005, 11:36 am
  #14  
 
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 3,208
Just make sure your wife stays away from Chinese bicycle thieves and you'll be OK.
fallinasleep is offline  
Old Jul 11, 2005, 12:49 pm
  #15  
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Rio Rancho, NM - USA
Programs: DL, UA, WN, Amtrak, Hyatt, Accor
Posts: 1,793
I have not been to "mainland China," but commonsense precautions apply concerning wearing jewelry everywhere. I never wear my diamond rings on trips. I have a plain gold band that I always wear while traveling. And I don't feel the need to wear expensive watches, relying on my good ol' Timexes instead.

Nice costume jewelry suffices for any of my travels, although sometimes I take pearls and/or some David Yurman pieces if I'm attending an out-of-town wedding or other dressy occasion.

If you're worried, why not make your mother-in-law happy by following her suggestion. You would gain a lot of points that way!
Dianne47 is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.