Diamonds not always a girl's best friend in China

By Lucy Hornby

BEIJING (Reuters) - Well-heeled Chinese women are questioning the old maxim that diamonds are a girl's best friend as their jewelry collections expand along with their bank balances.

While diamonds are definitely still a must-have in the jewelry boxes of wealthy women in China; rubies, sapphires and other colored gems are becoming popular too.

"Diamonds are still sought after for weddings or a traditional event. But Chinese really want to show their individuality, that's the trend for everyone now," said Yao Yuan, a director at the International Gemological Institute.

Take 20-something events manager Zhu Xiaomei.

Like many upwardly mobile Chinese women -- she's not shy about buying her own jewelry -- and the piece that caught her eye during a shopping trip in Beijing was an ornate gold ring with colored gem chips.

"I like to buy a lot of pieces and change them to go with various outfits, so I look first at the stones and the appearance," said Zhu, rejecting a dramatic silver collar in a nearby case as "too plain".

China is one of the few countries in the world where jewelry demand has held relatively steady this year, even with gold prices at 28-year highs and platinum at record prices.

That's due to China's booming economy, the fourth largest in the world, which is growing by 11 percent per year.