Wan Bao Bao

IT'S FAIR TO SAY Wan Bao Bao is a living embodiment of a modern woman: independent, well-travelled, and eloquent. Her poise is as striking as the amount of bling she tends to don. Call it a job hazard but she's a jewellery designer by profession after all, and one of the most sought-after in China, at that.

Her designs are the fifth most replicated on Chinese e-commerce sites, behind international luxury brands like Cartier and Bulgari; and her well-heeled clientele includes socialites, Asian A-listers like Fan Bingbing and Zhou Xun, as well as Western celebrities like Victoria Beckham.

Wan might come from a privileged family - her grandfather Wan Li was the former chairman of the People's National Congress and her childhood home was in Zhongnanhai, the red-walled compound reserved for high-ranking Chinese government officials in Beijing's Forbidden City - but she is fiercely prou…