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A woman inquires about pearls at a shop in Zhuji, a county-level city in Shaoxing, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

Digital technology has propelled the pearl industry in Zhuji, a county-level city in Shaoxing, East China's Zhejiang province.

Currently, the annual production volume of fresh water pearls in Shanxiahu town, Zhuji accounts for nearly 80 percent of the total fresh water pearl production in the nation and 70 percent of that in the world.

The use of digital technology is regarded as a major contributor.

When visitors walk into the town's pearl workshops, they are amazed at the automatic system for feeding clams. Internet of things technology is applied to monitor water temperature, ray of light, and volume of feeding.

Digital technology has also helped transform sales methods, with a growing number of shops turning to livestreaming.

To date, Shanxiahu town has around 3,000 online pearl shops, with their commodities sold to 108 countries. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, pearl sales in Zhuji have enjoyed a boom. From January to September in 2020, the online sales of pearls in Zhuji reached 10.02 billion yuan ($1.55 billion), a year-on-year growth of 25.3 percent.