LUCKY SCOOP

HOW A BACKWATER COUNTY IN JIANGSU PROVINCE RAISED AN ARMY OF LIVESTREAMERS AND TURNED ITSELF INTO THE CRYSTAL CAPITAL OF THE WORLD.

- LOUISE MATSAKIS and RACHEL ZHENG

AT THE BIG Purple Crystal warehouse in eastern China's Donghai County, hundreds of imported amethyst geodes are lined up in rows, their spiky insides open as if mid-scream. Some are shaped like eggs and perched on carved wooden stands. One crystal rides on the back of a bixi, a mythical creature with the body of a turtle and the head of a dragon. On shelves and in boxes lining the floor are countless smaller geodes roughly the size of fists, the kind you might find in a new age gift shop. The owner, Liu Junwen, sits in flip-flops behind his desk, which is, of course, an enormous amethyst geode topped with glass.

Mineral abundance isn't unusual in Donghai. Liu may not even be the biggest operator on this block. Over the past few decades, the county has transformed from an unremarkable backwater into the "crystal capital" of China and, arguably, the world. In 2023, its crystal trade was estimated to be worth more than $5.5 billion. Liu is among some 300,000 people about a quarter of local residents-who work directly in the business as dealers, wholesalers, livestreamers, gemologists, crystal cutters, factory managers, bead stringers, exporters, and freight agents. Together, they orchestrate a global market: The tower of Brazilian amethyst in a London yoga studio, the Colombian quartz on the reception desk of a Miami Botox clinic, the Zambian citrine in an overpriced tourist shop in Tulum-chances are, a lot of them passed through Donghai.