(Editor: Leona)

Demand for quality products goes up as raw material nations invoke stringent regulations

With the rapid growth in personal income, making sound investments has become a priority for many people in China and that is only expected to grow in future.

The investment avenues vary from gold and real estate, to personal investment products, even Bitcoins. But as well as those more conventional forms of investment, there are also more alternative options available, one of which in particular has been enjoying something of a renaissance of late: quality rosewood furniture.

Lin Huadong, the chairman of Zhejiang Collection Association, says that compared with the vagaries of real estate and stock market, the price of rosewood furniture has been growing a lot more steadily.

"The price of raw Siam rosewood material, for example, has grown from 20,000 yuan ($3,220) a ton six years ago to 150,000 yuan a ton last year, and with the growing scarcity of the raw material, the price will continue to rise," he says.

At November's China Guardian Auctions, a rosewood chair from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) was auctioned off for 23.57 million yuan.

Three years ago, just 15.4 percent of the rosewood furniture up for sale at the company's autumn auction sold－this year 87 percent of it left the rooms with new owners, he says.

The increased enthusiasm for rosewood, he says, has come mostly because of the release of new international regulations.

In 2014, five categories of valuable rosewood, including the Siam rosewood, were newly listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora as recommended for limited export.

From April 1 last year, Myanmar－previously a key provider of rosewood for China－banned rosewood export altogether to protect its key wood species.

Lin says that the listing of wood species by CITES and the Myanmar ban accelerated the demand for rosewood furniture, and thinks that the market for quality antique, and even much newer, rosewood furniture made from the five species will grow by 40 to 50 percent every year.

Zhu Datian, another antique furniture expert, cautions, however, on reckless purchases.

"Newcomers are unable to identify whether the material and techniques of certain pieces of furniture are worth that much. In that sense the market still lacks enough regulation," he says.

The rosewood furniture investment market in China, he says, is still not mature enough to know exactly what the true value of these products are, or might be in future.

"Many collectors simply evaluate one piece of rosewood furniture according to the wood it uses, and neglect the cultural value behind it," he says.

But Zhu certainly thinks the market can look forward to a stable decade as collectors get to know the culture of rosewood furniture better.

"The prices will grow for sure, but not as fast as they have been growing," he says.

Zhou Renmin has been collecting rosewood furniture for more than a decade, and says his collections have doubled in value in that time.

He opened a rosewood furniture-themed boutique hotel in Hangzhou in 2013, the capital city of Zhejiang province, in the hope of making more out of his investments.

Located in the embrace of the city's West Lake, his five-room hotel has attracted a lot of foreign visitors, who have happily spent 1,280 yuan on a standard room.

"The Westerners who come to China want to have a real Chinese experience during their stay. And my Chinesestyle rosewood furniture fits the bill perfectly," he says.

Zhou's exclusive rooms are fully-booked until the middle of January and he is not afraid that his collection might be destroyed by customers.

"Furniture is for daily use," he says, "and I am glad there are so many people who appreciate and share my collection."