Small City, Big Business – Zhecheng Diamond Industry

Posted on April 1, 2025

The city we are going to introduce today is Zhecheng. It has become the diamond capital of China due to its excellent man-made diamond technology. According to the latest data, the annual production of lab-grown diamonds in the world is 9 million carats, of which Zhecheng accounts for 4 million carats. In addition to lab-grown diamonds, other diamond products in Zhecheng also occupy an important position in the world. The annual output of diamond single crystal in Zhecheng is about 3 billion carats, and the annual output of diamond powder has reached 6 billion carats.

In the 80s of the 20th century, Zhecheng, Henan Province was still a typical agricultural county, and its main crop was peppers. At that time, the main source of income here was grain cultivation, and people lived a life of working at sunrise and resting at sunset. However, a fortuitous opportunity allowed Zhecheng to embark on a road to the “Diamond Capital”. At that time, Feng Jinzhang, an engineer from Zhengzhou Abrasives Grinding Research Institute, decided to return to Zhecheng with his own diamond synthesis technology to start a business with his love for his hometown. In the early days of the business, Feng Jinzhang’s factory was small and could only carry out simple diamond processing. But Zhecheng people are smart and hardworking, learn fast and are motivated. Soon after, groups of apprentices came out, and they came out of the factory, bringing their skills and experience, to set up a workshop-style diamond powder processing plant at home. By the end of the 90s, Zhecheng’s diamond powder industry had begun to take shape. Walking into the village, every household is grinding diamonds. Fathers take their sons to work, mothers and daughters sort and pack at home, and the village is filled with the roar of machines and the air is filled with the delicate powder of diamonds. Zhecheng has become a well-known “hometown of diamond powder” in the country. In 2009, Zhecheng ushered in a key node of transformation. The government began to support the diamond industry, integrating scattered workshop enterprises into Zhecheng Industrial Park to promote industrial upgrading. Micronized powder enterprises began to extend upstream, synthesize diamond single crystals, and no longer relied on foreign supply. At the same time, Zhecheng’s entrepreneurs began to look for opportunities in the global market. Before, they only did the domestic market, now, their products are exported to Europe, America, Japan, South Korea and other places. Zhecheng’s diamond powder occupies 70% of the global market and has become a well-deserved “world factory”.

But what really made Zhecheng famous was a technological breakthrough. In 2013, the global diamond market changed. Natural diamonds are expensive, and lab-grown diamonds are starting to come to the fore. This kind of artificially grown diamond is physically and chemically identical to natural diamonds, but the cost is much lower than that of natural diamonds. Zhecheng’s entrepreneurs keenly grasped this opportunity. They began researching how to synthesize jewelry-quality diamonds in the lab. After countless experiments, in 2016, Zhecheng Power Diamond Company successfully cultivated its first jewelry-quality diamond. The news shocked the entire industry. Since then, Zhecheng’s lab-grown diamonds have entered a period of rapid development.

By 2021, Zhecheng’s annual production of lab-grown diamonds has reached 4 million carats, accounting for nearly 45% of the global market. In that year, Power Diamond Company was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and became the “first stock of lab-grown diamonds”, marking that Zhecheng officially stood on the world diamond stage.

Today, the diamond industry in Zhecheng is no longer a small family workshop, but a complete industrial chain. Diamonds here are not only used in industry, but also in the jewelry market, even challenging the traditional diamond hegemon De Beers. This once inconspicuous small county town is writing its own diamond legend.