The rise of China has been a major driver of the demand for gold。

中國已經(jīng)一躍成為黃金需求的主要驅動者。

While gold has little industrial use, it holds profound cultural significance for the Chinese。

黃金的工業(yè)價值雖然很低，但對中國文化卻有著深厚的影響意義。

The biggest driver of consumer demand in China is clearly one event: the wedding。

在中國，對黃金的消費需求最明顯的是體現(xiàn)在婚禮上。

"It is estimated that close to 40% of Chinese 24 carat jewelery consumption is related to weddings," note the analysts at the World Gold Council. "In the third and fourth tier cities this percentage is greater."

來自世界黃金協(xié)會的分析師們指出：“據(jù)估計接近40%的中國人為婚禮準備24克拉的黃金首飾，在三、四線城市這個比例更大。”

24 carat jewelery accounts for 85% of gold jewellery demand in China。

24克拉珠寶占中國黃金珠寶需求量的85%。

"‘Pure gold’ jewellery is a unique product that fulfills the requirements of both adornment and investment, and research confirms its appeal to young consumers," said the analysts。

“純金首飾”是同時滿足首飾和投資兩種需求的獨特產品，并且研究證實純金首飾吸引了很多年輕消費者，”分析師說。

Here's some more color:

黃金的需求量繼續(xù)增長：

The growth in the number of people of marriageable age together with, in general, increasing wealth has boosted sales of jewellery for traditional wedding sets and rings. Typically a three-piece wedding set, known in Mandarin Chinese as jiehun san jing might consist of a necklace/pendant/bracelet, ring and earring combination. Bracelets are especially popular in southern China where wedding sets are also often five-rather than three-piece。

隨著適齡結婚人數(shù)的增長，總體增長財富不斷推動了傳統(tǒng)婚禮珠寶和戒指的銷售量。典型的婚禮三件套“結婚三金”的說法就是指黃金項鏈/吊墜/手鐲-戒指-耳環(huán)(合在一起算一套)。手鐲在中國南方婚禮上特別受歡迎，在南方地區(qū)，通常是五件套而不是三件套。

The number of marriages, according to the mainland’s official data for China has increased by 60% since the middle of the last decade to 13.2 million at the end of 2012. This has undoubtedly made an important contribution to growth in demand for 24 carat gold over the last decade。

根據(jù)中國大陸結婚人數(shù)的官方數(shù)據(jù)統(tǒng)計，自過去五年至今，結婚人數(shù)已經(jīng)增加了60%。截止到2012年底達到了1320萬人。這無疑為過去10年里24克拉黃金需求量的增長產生了重要的影響。

China, however, faces an unusual demographic hurdle that is bad news for weddings。

然而，中國面臨著一個不同尋常的人口障礙，對婚禮來說可謂是個壞消息。

"Women are bearing only 0.71 girls over their lifetime, well below the replacement figure of just over unity," noted the analysts at Nomura. "In 2010, there were 51m more men than woman in the country. The sex ratio among newborns is 120 boys for every 100 girls, the highest in the world. At this rate, there will not be enough brides for as many as one-fifth of today‟s baby boys when they get to marrying age, heightening the risk of social tensions."

“女性一生只生育0.71個女嬰，男嬰女嬰的出生數(shù)量相差懸殊，” 野村證券的分析師指出。“在2010年，中國男性比女性多出5100萬。新生兒的性別比例是120個男孩：100個女孩，這是世界上最高的性別比例。在這樣的比例下，高達五分之一的男嬰到了適婚年齡都沒有合適的新娘，這就存在加劇社會緊張局勢的風險。”

WGC analysts acknowledge this concern, but note that this will be a bigger issue for demand in the 2020s。

WGC分析師也認為存在這樣的擔憂，但也同時指出在21世紀20年代黃金需求量會成為一個更大的問題。

For now, expect demand and weddings to continue to rise through at least 2017.

目前至少到2017年，黃金的預計需求量和婚禮人數(shù)都會繼續(xù)上升。