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With two springtimes on the lunar calendar this year, the unusually long Year of the Dog is an valentines day jewelry time to get married. Occurring every five years, a “double-spring” is supposed to bring twice the happiness for newlyweds. Whether or not this traditional wisdom becomes reality for the couple, a boom in weddings is spelling good fortune for some.

“This has been an exceptionally good year for us. I wish every year was a double-spring year,” says Zhang Ming, a manager at Donghua Diamond Jewellery, a Shanghai-based retail chain.

One pleasing trend for Ms Zhang is that moreand more Chinese couples now celebrate their weddings with diamonds. In Shanghai, China’s biggest market for the precious stone, three out of five brides receive a diamond ring when they say “I do”.

China’s diamond jewellery market grew by 8 per cent in the first half of this year, led by 10 per cent growth in wedding jewellery, according to the Diamond Trading Company (DTC), the sales division of De Beers, the world’s largest producer of uncut diamonds. But the market is also getting competitive. Boosted by -foreign jewellery retailers, the number of jewellery shops has grown even faster – a 17 per cent increase in the first six months of 2006.

Since China’s economy took off a few years ago, international luxury brands – led by fashion and leather goods retailers – have been expanding aggressively into the mainland – a country full of brand lovers with a tradition of giving and receiving rich gifts.

The presence of luxury jewellery remains small in comparison with iconic branded goods such as tiffany necklaces watches or Louis Vuitton handbags, which are very popular with Chinese consumers. Yet the country is fast turning into a new -battleground for international jewellery groups.

Cartier, the French chain, already operates boutiques in nine Chinese cities. New York-based Tiffany & Co opened its third store in China a few months ago and is scheduled to open another in Shanghai later this year. Italy’s Bulgari, which entered China in 2003 with four outlets, recently expanded its flagship store in Shanghai.

Even fashion brands such as Gucci and Christian Dior are tapping China’s jewellery market.

Chaumet, the French chain that was Napoleon’s jeweller, is the latest retailer that is planning to conquer China.

Acquired by the LVMH group in 2001, Chaumet has switched its focus from the US to Asia in the last few years. After turning Japan into its biggest market inthe region, contributingone-third of the group’s -revenue, Chaumet is now hoping to repeat its success in mainland China.

“We see a lot of similarities between the Japanese and the Chinese markets. People like jewellery, like brands and have a strong gift culture. There is no question why we should not succeed in China,” says Thierry Fritsch, Chaumet’s president.

But Mr Fritsch has faced a problem. In all his meetings with marketing companies or business partners in China over the last two years, the first question has always been: “Where is your store in Hong Kong?”

“I realised for us to be successful in China we have to have an impressive outlet in Hong Kong,” says Mr Fritsch.

After two years of searches and waiting, Chaumet finally won a lease to open its first shop in Hong Kong this month. The tiffany accessories – Chaumet’s largest worldwide – is its platform for China.

“We are now in talks with local partners to open one store in Beijing and one in Shanghai in 2007. But, of course, this will depend a lot on if we can find good locations,” says Mr Fritsch.

While opening a store in China is his first task, Mr Fritsch’s bigger challenge is to find a niche for Chaumet in general and branded -jewellery in China in particular.

Globally, branded jewellery accounts for less than one-fifth of the Dollars 100bn jewellery market. In China, the percentage is estimated to be much smaller, although brands, led by those from Hong Kong, are making slow inroads into the mainland.

“We are beginning to see brands and collections in China. Go back three years, you see the same ring, the same ring and the same ring. Now you see more designs and different quality,” says David Lamb, worldwide marketing director for DTC.

But as many Chinese are still first-time diamond -shoppers, buying expensive jewellery is often a family tiffany keys.

“In China, the local chain is doing very well because people like to take their family with them. You won’t travel to an A(-list) city to buy jewellery. You will be in Nanjing or Chengdu where your family members can join you,” says Mr Lamb.

Editor’s note: This is one in a weekly series of profiles on locally owned and operated businesses in Southern Oregon.

What do you do and how long have you been doing it? (Susan speaking) We have valentines day jewelry, unique gifts, home and garden decor in our garden out back, and home decor inside. We have fresh flower bunches, silk flowers and French body and bath as well as baby gifts. We’ve been doing this for nine years.

How long have you lived in the Rogue Valley? Both of us were born here. My mom went to Crater High School, I went to Crater and my son and daughter (Jennifer) all went to Crater. So we’ve been here three generations.

What inspired you to go into this line of work? My grandfather always had stores. He had one in Prospect and later in Woodland Heights off Columbus Avenue in Medford. I remember helping him with the store when I was little. I’d stand on the stool and help the customers; that’s how I learned to make change. It just gets in your blood.

What decision or action would you change if you could do it again? When we started, we were out in Phoenix at the Shoppes at Exit 24, it was still an outlet market and booming. It was thriving at first and then it went downhill. The timing for being there wasn’t good. We then moved out to Jacksonville to be closer to home. That was just when the economy turned bad.

What’s the toughest business decision you’ve made? It’s whether to keep hanging in there. We’re not doing this to make any money right now. We have so many loyal customers that just come in and tell us this is there favorite spot and don’t close. We depend a lot on local people, that’s why we try hard to cater to local people with birthday and necklaces gifts. We try to find the best prices on unique and different things. We carry different things by both local artists and around the world. We even work with a village in Nepal, where ladies make hand-made winter caps. We try to work with fair trade and help anywhere we can.

Who are your competitors? We used to go to market, buy items and come home and sell it at a fair price. But the big box stores like T.J. Maxx and Ross and even Real Deals buy at huge quantities and then discount it. What we’ve been trying to do is have a boutique look without boutique prices. There are always other gift stores. One hope is that people would discover the stores on the side streets; there’s more to Jacksonville than just California Street.

What are your goals? We moved into this location last July, and before that we were on Fifth Street. We want to see the economy come back to where people can come in — not to over-indulge, but to find nice gifts for their friends and families. There is only so much disposable income, we don’t provide necessities, we supply retail therapy. We want to be comfortable financially like we were five years ago. We see Jacksonville becoming a wonderful destination long-term. Basically, we’re trying to find our niche in the community.

What training or education did you need? My daughter has a background in visual merchandising; she was a manager at Pier 1 Imports. I previously was a hairdresser for years and had a flower and gift shop in the early 1980s. I had the Basket Place in Poplar Square for about four years. I learned that retail is hard and it changes and you have to roll with the trends. We’ve learned that here — that you have to keep it fresh.

What’s your advice for budding entrepreneurs? It’s not something to take lightly and it’s not a big money-silver bangles. It’s harder than it looks. We’re here seven days a week, no paid holidays — it’s just hard. People have to absolutely go into it with their eyes open. They need to have a five-year plan.

As Valentine’s Day nears, heart-shaped chocolates, cards with inscriptions of “I love you,” and bottles of champagne wrapped in red and white foil line the store shelves and bombard shoppers with subliminal messages that if you don’t have a lover, you’re missing out.

For sure, to be wanted and viewed as sexually attractive are valued qualities in America — where beautiful people move to Hollywood and movie stars become presidents. And in a nation invariably obsessed with sex — where pop magazines, television and music titillate and tantalize — not being seen as sexy is equivalent to living a life of loneliness and boredom, an existence devoid of power and even happiness.

So it is not surprising that many Asian American men are feeling frustrated that Asian American valentine’s day jewelry gifts tend to date outside their race much more than men do, creating a perception that they are not wanted by anyone, not even fellow Asian Americans.

For Asian American men, observing such a disparity brings to mind the disparaging media images of Asian men that began a century ago and persist today — images that portray them as bucked-toothed nerds and karate-chopping, desexualized fighting machines.

Such caricatures have damaged the reputation of Asian American males as anything but virile lovers, and reinforced racist stereotypes that have more or less stripped them of their masculinity.

The stereotypes have been constantly present throughout the media’s history, from the branding of early Chinese and Japanese immigrants as a “yellow peril,” to the visions of the sinister Dr. Fu Manchu, to the characterizing of Asian men as impotent buffoons. And in the 1960s, that stereotype reached an all-time low when Mickey Rooney played Audrey Hepburn’s buck-toothed and grossly-caricatured landlord in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

It’s doubtful that those images are changing, even as Asian and Asian American male actors rise to stardom in Hollywood.

For example, international superstar Chow Yun-Fat, though tall, dark and handsome by many standards, remains limited primarily to chaste, yet bad-boy, shoot ‘em up roles. Though he plays a Thai monarch in his latest movie Anna and the King, Chow’s previous U.S. movie — The Replacement Killers — had him playing opposite Hollywood’s shapely Aphrodite, Mira Sorvino, as an asexual, gun-slinging fighter.

Apparently incapable of making any sexual advances to Sorvino’s character, the closest Chow comes to a “sin of the flesh” ends up as nothing more than a simple hug and an “I will miss you” — a pathetic consummation to their relationship.

Had anyone else played the leading man — Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Pierce Brosnan — a fornication scene would have been an ironclad clause in their contracts. Similar examples of apparent Asian male chastity are endless.

Many Asian American women seem to have been convinced by these notions, choosing to date and “outmarry” white men at a lopsided rate. In California, 7.7 percent of API males were married to whites, compared to 16.2 percent of the women, according to the 1990 Census.

And particularly in Asia, where the standard of beauty is Western, and Americana is exported through big-budget silver bracelets DiCaprio blockbusters, those images are equally, if not more, harmful to the Asian American psyche when newly arrived immigrants insist on dating whites only.

That’s not to say that interracial dating or marriage is unhealthy. Indeed, a multiethnic society like that of the United States should be integrated in more ways than a classroom or an office. It is unhealthy, however, when media stereotypes drive coupling patterns, convincing Asian American men that they are not “good” enough to date white women, and conditioning Asian American women to favor white men.

But stereotypes of Asian men are only one factor in Asian American-white relationship patterns. Other factors include stereotypes of Asian females — also quite well-known and widespread (look up “Asian” on the Internet).

Therefore, it behooves all parties — Asian American men and woman, white men and women — to evaluate their susceptibility to media stereotypes and ask themselves how sincerely they view themselves and each other.

With this in mind, have a joyous and blissful Valentine’s Day.