“No one can leave Laopu Gold empty-handed,” says one post on the Chinese photo-sharing app Xiaohongshu, under a shot of a user wearing a white T-shirt and gold-and-diamond-encrusted butterfly charm. 

“Laopu’s dragon and phoenix pendant that was out of stock for a month finally landed in my hands,” says another, next to a chunky oval pendant with tassels and carved with the mythical creatures that symbolise harmony and auspiciousness in traditional Chinese culture.

There are hundreds of thousands of posts like this on the social media platform also known as RedNote, where Laopu — a homegrown purveyor of finely crafted gold jewellery that combines Chinese heritage with a modern edge — has surged in popularity in recent years. Its tongue-in-cheek nickname in China these days? The “Hermès of gold”.