Jewelry refers to ornaments worn on the head. Nowadays, it broadly refers to bird hairpins, earrings, necklaces, rings, bracelets, etc., which are processed from precious metals and gems. Jewelry is generally used to decorate the human body, but also has the meaning of showing social status and showing wealth.

Early definition

Earlier, jewellery was meant to be worn on the head to hold ornaments. In China, jewelry was called “head and face” in old times, such as combs, hairpins, and crowns.

Modern definition

Also known as jewelry in the narrow sense, it refers to accessories made of various metal materials or precious jade materials and matched with clothing to play a decorative role. Since jewelry mostly uses rare and precious metals and jewellery, its value is relatively high. The clothing referred to in modern times is mostly weaving, and a variety of low-value materials are also used. This is clearly different from jewelry.

Broad definition

Refers to the decorations made of various metal materials, gemstone materials, organic materials and imitations to decorate the human body and its related environment. It can be seen that the broad jewellery already includes part of the scope of jewellery, accessories, and ornaments, or the three move towards one, which is the development direction of the jewelry industry today. With the acceleration of the social rhythm, new materials and new concepts continue to enter, making the boundaries of jewelry more and more blurred.

It is difficult to verify exactly when humans wear jewelry. But it is not difficult for us to infer that since humans began to realize the decoration and beautification of themselves, humans have also forged an indissoluble bond with it. The most primitive jewelry of mankind can probably be traced back to the distant Stone Age.

From the collection of Paleolithic materials and materials of modern primitive tribes found around the world, one can find that the early primitive body ornaments were mainly in the form of necklaces, waist ornaments, arm ornaments, wrist ornaments, head ornaments, etc. In the form, the main items are neck ornaments and waist ornaments. They are decorated to a large extent around the human genital area. The reason is that besides the ability of these parts to support the wear, a large number of studies have shown that this choice has another purpose.