New gold rush: Young people flock to viral ‘beans’ amid uncertainty

Singapore: Traditionally a favorite haunt of cash-rich older generations, China’s gold and jewelry stores have been attracting a distinctly younger customer to their doors in droves.

Millennial and Gen Z customers have been showing up to buy little “beans” of gold. They are jumping on the viral bandwagon, and social media is fueling the buying trend, triggering a sort of mini gold rush among young Chinese.

The beans, which weigh just one gram and cost about 600 yuan ($130), are seen as a safe investment for a younger generation looking toward a bleaker economic horizon.

The country’s export-driven economy has struggled to regain the pace of growth it enjoyed before the pandemic, an event that led the United States to boost its own manufacturing to compete with China.