A pair of 24 Karat gold dragon & phoenix bangles is as timeless and indispensable to a Chinese bride as a diamond ring is to a Western bride.

Interior of Che Lee Yuen’s main store on Rua de Francisco Xavier Pereira 

(Photo courtesy of Che Lee Yuen)

Centennial Craftsmanship

        Founded in 1867, the sixth year of Emperor Tongzhi’s reign in the Qing dynasty, Che Lee Yuen is a time-honoured and renowned gold jewellery brand in Macao with a history of over 150 years. The brand was founded by Mr Che Yue Tong, who opened its first shop in Macao over a century ago and produced exquisite jewellery for customers. The brand has gradually made a reputation for itself for its gold jewellery business, and is now being run by the fourth generation of the Che family, who upholds the family’s spirit in constant pursuit of innovation and excellence.

        Stephen Tse, the current successor of the brand, took over the business in 1996. He recalls that the brand developed slowly before the handover of Macao, since then the brand has enjoyed a rapid growth thanks to Macao’s economic boom and has gradually opened more branches in Macao and Zhuhai. The company was presented with the Gold Award in the Most Valuable Brand category at the Business Awards of Macau in 2017, and was the sponsor and manufacturer of the crowns for Miss Macau 2019.

Gold Award in the Most Valuable Brand category received at the Business Awards of Macau in 2017

 (Photo courtesy of Che Lee Yuen)

Platinum crown for Miss Macau 2019 sponsored by Che Lee Yuen

 (Photo courtesy of Che Lee Yuen)

Up-to-date Innovations

        Over the century, Che Lee Yuen has constantly adhered to the principle of integrity and selling authentic and fairly-priced products, which has won them many loyal customers. Tse shared that “while constantly persisting with the quality-first culture of the older generations, we have been constantly creating new designs as well. In early stage, our customers were mainly local residents. As time passed by, gold jewellery seems to be exclusively enjoyed by the older generations”. Sensing the urgent need to expand the market to include young people and the overseas regions, as early as in 1997, shortly after taking over the business, Tse opened “Ring Master”  – a branch store targeting young customers and selling fashionable diamond and Italian 18K-gold jewellery as well as a brand-new business model. Moreover, the company has engaged a range of young jewellery designers to create series of new products, such as gold bracelets featuring antique blue enamel and other designs, pure gold pendants in gourd shape and those with auspicious motifs, which are a forerunner in the local industry.

999 gold earring 

(Photo courtesy of Che Lee Yuen)

Elegant pearl and diamond pendant 

(Photo courtesy of Che Lee Yuen)

Fashion gold and platinum pendants 

(Photo courtesy of Che Lee Yuen)

Bold Pioneer

        Tse mentioned that against a background where new media is booming and e-commerce, live-commerce and social platform marketing are the mainstream, the company has placed abundant resources to promote the time-honoured brand through online marketing on different social media such as Instagram, Facebook and WeChat. It has also opened online shops on large e-commerce platforms in Mainland China as well as overseas e-commerce platforms to sell high-end jewellery, and is using big data to optimise resource distribution. Tse said:“as new media is a new field for us, we need to invest more time and resources to try and see whether it can bring gratifying results, but we are up for challenges’.

Models displaying products of Che Lee Yuen 

(Photo courtesy of Che Lee Yuen)

Contact Che Lee Yuen

If you are interested in discussing co-operation with the above-mentioned company, please contact the staff of “Macao Ideas” during office hours.

Tel.: 

Ms Cheang +853 8798 9707

Ms Chong +853 8798 9739

Email: 

fionacheang@ipim.gov.mo 

elizachong@ipim.gov.mo