Chuk Kam, Dowry Gold and 'Chinese Retail Gold Investing' Thread

I'm curious to know more about retail Au Coin/Bullion "investing" in Mainland China.

If I understand correctly, the avg Chinese buyer wants 990 Gold jewelry - for dowry, not daily wear - or Chinese coins (not much else.) Two years ago, US-based Taiwanese guy told me he knew NO ONE 'investing in Gold' - just dowry purchases for women. So I'm trying to get more background on the market(s) in different cities: Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing. All insights into the Chinese retail Gold bullion market welcome. Thanks!

From a 2007 blog I read this - I think it's about also about the Taiwanese and perhaps NOT SO RELEVANT to the mainlanders???
Chinese prefer pure gold (99.9%) or 916 gold (equivalent to 24K gold). Anything below that, such as 18K gold commonly used in fashionable gold jewellery, is not considered “real” gold to chinese.


Here's an Oct. 2011 article on Gold ETF trading (retail investor, paper spec):
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/10/26/idINIndia-60128020111026

Also: the 'fake Gold' scam in China was fairly isolated (overblown) back in 2010:
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f7b05cf2-fcfc-11df-ae2d-00144feab49a.html#axzz2B674EK7o