Today brings another sneak peek into next year’s line-up, with a look at the Pandora Chinese New Year 2018 release! Every year, Pandora release one or two charms in celebration of the Lunar New Year in one of my favourite traditions from the brand – have a browse through my previous posts to see what has come out already.

Pandora CNY Lunar New Year 2018 charm preview

Historically, Pandora’s CNY releases have been limited to Asia, but in recent years, they’ve also launched in other regions. Australia, New Zealand & Asia will certainly be getting this release, but I don’t have confirmation yet as to other regions. :) They’re usually launched in mid-January with the Valentine’s collection.

Read on for a sneak peek!


Pandora Chinese New Year 2018 Sneak Peek

The first bead I’ve been shown is this adorable dangle – it’s a new twist on the Chinese Doll design from a couple of years ago, this time with a male figure, and a little two-tone detailing.

Pandora Chinese New Year 2018 Charm

This second charm is also part of the CNY collection, I’m told. It combines an enamel back plate with a swinging heart, encrusted with salmon CZs and silver Chinese symbols. 

It’s pictured below with other charms from the upcoming Pandora Valentine’s 2018 collection. It matches nicely with the pink/red charms:

Obviously, my Chinese isn’t the best, but it looks to me like the same symbol from the Chinese Double Happiness charm, which would make sense!


My Comment

Pandora’s annual lunar new year release is always one I look forward to – like the Pandora Disney line, it’s another area where Pandora still and produce character-based designs. It’s a little guaranteed slice of interest every year. :) I really like the little Chinese figure dangle and will almost certainly be adding him to my collection. The heart dangle is cute, but more like other beads they produce all year round.

This is my CNY bracelet as it currently stands – as you can see, it already has quite a few dangles on it! But I’m thinking that I might make it into more of a traditional charm bracelet-y design with a higher number of dangles – three in each outer section. ?Pandora Chinese New Year 2017 Lion Dance

What do you think of this year’s CNY release? Do either of these beads tempt you?

65 Comments on Pandora Chinese New Year 2018 Sneak Peek

  1. The doll is the god of fortune holding a gold ingot while the heart dangle is indeed a double happiness which usually symbolizes marriage.

    • Ah, thank you very much for the info! :) I have very little knowledge of Chinese culture, so I’d never have known that.

    • Hi:

      Does anyone know where I can buy the heart dangle with the double happiness and salmon cz? I’ve been to 2 pandora stores and the sale people haven’t seen it and said their store didn’t receive it. Thanks

  2. Hi Ellie!!!!!

    Thanks for the sneak peek! That’s so adorable!!! He is called the God of Fortune which brings wealth and good luck and we love him especially on Chinese New Year! (Which is also why he is carrying an ingot) with all these red and good luck symbols that pandora have came out I think I can finally convince my mom to have a Pandora! She’s been rejecting me for the past years!!! So excited for it to come out!!!

    <3 Cindy!

    • Hi Cindy! You are welcome :D I think he’s adorable as well, although I had no idea what he represented! Haha, I hope you manage to convince your mum! Mine won’t go for a Pandora either, it’s a continual source of disappointment for me! ^^

      • I know this is off message, but I wanted to share with anyone who might be interested, that I filled one of my bangles with ONLY Oval Light spacers, except for the flamingo dangle which hangs in the middle. It’s so beautiful and sparkly with all the vibrant color. I always get so many compliments when earring it. It’s also a nice piece to wear during the Christmas season.

  3. Hi Ellie,

    I don’t usually do a lot of CNY as red is a color I don’t wear very often. But the charms are quite beautiful and exquisitely detailed.

    Thanks for the peek!

    • Hi Deborah! No, I don’t go for a lot of red either, but I like that the Asian beads have prompted me to put together a red design, as it’s a bit different to all my others. The charms are wonderful!

      Thanks for commenting :)

  4. I can’t contain how excited I am for the CNY release! That little fella there is the God Of Wealth or Cai-shen. What a brilliant idea! Totally didn’t cross my mind Cai-shen as a charm or pendant for CNY release. Silly me it is so obvious Cai-shen is tantamount to Chinese New Year! Just like how Santa Claus means Christmas. Thanks for the update I am totally looking forward to getting this!! As for the other pendant, you are right, the Chinese characters are the exact same words as the double happiness pendant from the older collection. Normally the Chinese would write this word down on a red paper and stick this up on walls or doors to indicate a wedding is coming up. Lovely stuff. Keep up the good work! Loving each and every of your posts.?

    • Ah, that’s so funny that the Cai-shen is so integral to CNY and yet I had never heard of it before! I’ve been collecting the CNY beads for some time, but am learning new things about it every year. :) That’s the really nifty side of Pandora’s cultural beads!

      Thank you very much for taking the time to paint a bit of a picture of the cultural significance surrounding these beads ☺️ really glad to hear that you’re excited, and thank you for commenting!

  5. What a cute looking “cai shen”. With the gold detailing means the price will be higher but also add a nice touch to the traditionally gold ingot. The double happiness charm is a good one for valentine release.

    • It is lovely, isn’t it! I think the extra lick of gold will be worth paying a bit extra. I don’t buy as much as I used to from Pandora’s main collections, and am prepared to pay a bit more for the charms I really do like, if it seems worth it. :)

  6. Hi love the new Chinese New Year beads
    Was going to purchase the new mesh
    Bracelet but the sales lady said that
    The mesh oxides with wear has this
    Happened to anyone yet as I decided
    To not get one because of this happening.

    • Kylie, I have had the mesh bracelet since it was released over a month ago. I wear it multiple times a week and have not yet had any issues with oxidation. It is still as sparkly as when I got it. I store it inside a pandora jewelry box. Hopefully I won’t have any problems because I absolutely love it! Hope this helps.

    • I wear mine all the time too! I have a few Rose charms on it. I keep mine in an anti tarnish bag (4×4 from Amazon). No sign of any oxidation. Hope this helps.

    • Hi Kylie! I don’t own a mesh bracelet as it happens, so I couldn’t tell you unfortunately, but I can see that Melissa and Deborah have offered up some feedback. I would actually quite like if it oxidised, as that would make it a bit darker and closer to the original preview of it we saw last year :)

  7. The little man dangle is a brilliant charm. I’ll grab it for sure if possible. I didn’t used to like dangles until I got a Thomas Sabo Charm Club traditional dangle charm bracelet. Now I have a Pandora bracelet that’s just dangles; I have seven dangles on it right now. Not all Pandora dangles work well for it though. The bezel has to be the type you see on the little man up there, which makes for an even charm with a good drop; not the type of bezel you see on the new double happiness. The double happiness bezel is horrible and awkward. I bought one like it, the mother-daughter pink, and I’ll never buy another like it–it’s really not wearable on anything.

    • Ah, that’s really fun! When I got my first Pandora, I decided that I didn’t like the dangle charms and refused to put any on my bracelet! Now I have them on every design, as I like them to add a bit of symmetry and to break up a design. I haven’t gone for all dangles yet, but you never know! :)

      Glad you like the cai-shen charm, too, that’s the one I’ll be getting! I’m less keen on the pave for the double happiness charm.

  8. Hi Ellie!
    That doll is adorable! I’d love to get it! It took a while for the Dancing Lion to be available in the States; should I assume the same with these charms as well?

    Thank you for the sneak peek!

    • Hi Danielle! I don’t have any information on a North American release for these yet, but I’d have thought that they would make it out there at some point next year. They did just release all the missing CNY charms in the US and Canada this Autumn, so I can’t see why they wouldn’t continue with the new ones. :)

  9. Hi Ellie,

    I adore the cultural charms that Pandora releases, I think they make a nice travel charm option for some people and a wonderful acknowledgement of one’s culture and traditions for others. Dangles are never my first choice because I am an animated conversationalist and tend to knock the poor things around. I think I will have to add this one to my collection if possible. I think either one would look lovely as a pendant or on a leather bracelet. I prefer the plain silver bezel, it does help with the weight distribution and it is in my opinion the most elegant choice.I don’t have any of the previously released Chinese doll charms so this will be my first. I knew a little about the significance of good fortune and good luck in Chinese culture but had no idea Cai-Shen was considered to be the equivalent to Santa Claus, interesting. Your plan to make your CNY bracelet into a more traditional style charm bracelet is a good one, with added dangle you will be able to create a nice balance. I have taken a similar approach with my travel bracelets adding more dangles – country flags, Eiffel Tower etc.
    Have you ever condsedered getting a Pandora necklace or chain?

    Thanks for this sneak peak!

    Cheers
    Lisa K

    • Hi Lisa! Me too, which is why I always look forward to the CNY release. I think it’s a tradition that many longstanding collectors of Pandora really value, no matter their background. :) Aha, I love your description of yourself as an animated conversationalist! I am a wearer of jumpers (sweaters), especially this time of year, and I find that dangles do tend to hook on to the threads reasonably often, no matter how animated my conversation is, haha. I had to conduct around 30 seconds of a work-related meeting while trying to subtly disentangle my Pandora reindeer’s little hoofs from my jumper last year. My colleague very kindly pretended not to notice, which actually made it a little worse I think ?

      I do have a Pandora necklace chain! It has the Disney Frozen pendant on it :) I used to wear it all the time but I got a Tiffany open heart necklace this year and that’s become my go-to.

      Thanks for commenting Lisa! :)

  10. I love the Good of Fortune. He doesn’t really work with anything in my collection, but I do love to see the more unique and interesting selections.

    It looks like Pandora is introducing some red for Valentine’s Day this year, based on your photos. I like that red facetted bead quite a bit. That might look pretty on my Christmas bracelet, if it’s the clear dark red that it appears to be in the photo.

    I love your CNY bracelet, Ellie. I don’t see your little piggy from a few years back, but I was sure you got one. Did he land on another bracelet?

    • Yes, it’s hard to tell from the photos I posted before exactly what shade the charms are – as they’re photos of a catalogue, it throws the colours off a bit!

      Ah, do you mean the Piggy Bank charm with the red bow? It’s still there, it’s just tucked behind the poppy murano. It’s a favourite of mine! Glad you like the bracelet, and thanks for commenting! ☺️

  11. Thank you Ms. Ellie for the latest update. I like the Double Happiness charm by itself and with the hearts. Real cute.

    • You’re welcome, Karen! :) The double happiness is a nice motif. I think the new version of it is a bit too sparkly for me, but I’d get the god of fortune dangle.

  12. Hi Ellie! I’m absolutely obsessed with your blog? I love coming on here to see new things that you’ve posted. I got myself the jingle bells ornament last week and I absolutely love it. It’s my first pandora ornament and I’ll certainly be getting the previous years! All my friends and family love your blog! Thanks! ?

    Ellie xx

    • Hi Ellie! What a lovely comment, thank you very much for taking the time to let me know ☺️ so pleased to hear that you’ve been enjoying the posts! And yay, your first ornament! It’s a beautiful one this year :) and the ornaments do all look beautiful together, so good luck tracking down the older ones! I still have the 2011 snowball one to find. ?

      Thanks again for commenting! xx

  13. The double happiness on the 2 hearts is adorable as 2018 valentine day is just 2 days ahead of Chinese New Year !!! But the God of wealth is just cute n who don’t love wealth?

    • Aha, the god of wealth is very cute! And if he does bring me a little fortune, then I won’t be complaining ^^

  14. But…Is it a happy man with a mustache, or a man with downturned eyes and some caterpillar eyebrows …? I like him anyway and will buy him so that I can reflect on this mystery for always.

    • ? I like the idea of you just looking down at your wrist, catching sight of his little face, and then drifting off into a reverie lol! I think he is intended to have a moustache, but perhaps you’re on to something with the caterpillar eyebrows.. ?

    • Yes, hopefully he’ll be released in most territories :) we didn’t get the Lion this year in the UK, so I’m not optimistic for us, but hopefully North America should get it!

  15. I’m not a big Asian motif fan but they are cute. And seeing those faceted red hearts again is making me fall in love with them even more ?

  16. Ellie, he is adorable! And a perfect match with the Chinese dolls :) It is such a shame that Pandora restricts the charms to certain regions. Hopefully, I will be able to get him with a little help of Asian ladies! Thank you for another fantastic update. Have a great week :)

    • I couldn’t agree more, I think it’s a lovely charm! ^^ I hope you manage to find one, and that he doesn’t prove too elusive. Have a great week too :)

  17. I really like the Chinese man doll charm and I love your CNY bracelet – it’s my most favourite of all your bracelets. I’ve been following your blog since you started the CNY charm collection, and in reflection should have bought each of the CNY charms when you did as I want a full bracelet too.

    • Oh, thank you Judie! ? It is really wonderful that you’ve been following along since way back when. A lot of people have come and gone in the blog comment section ^^ perhaps you could try and track down some of the older beads via the Pandora Facebook pages? A lot of the charms only retired a little while ago, so you might have some luck. :)

  18. Hi Ellie,

    Love the new twist on the Chinese doll. The gold is a nice touch. Wish I had bought the doll from 2015. I’m not crazy about the red and pink heart, but I’ve never been a fan of red and pink together. I’m hoping the faceted red hearts are as pretty in person as they appear in the picture. Hopefully, they will be a nice match for the Lion Dance charm.

  19. As ever great post, you always get the intel first. Cai Shen is fabulous – when I fitrst received the china and japan dolls for real I could not believe how tiny they are in actual as against photos online. Not sure about the heart charm from my eye but I know who will like it…. looks like I will need to get overseas friwend help again like last years as these probably won’t be released in UK as usual… have collected most of the other CNY charms including lanterns, the asian dolls, junk ship and Lion dance for a CNY/Valentines gift that I still haven’t given yet even though I started collecting for it 2 years ago…

      • So sorry to hear that I missed your other comment, I would never do that intentionally! I work full time and rarely get to comments within 24 hours, so I just hadn’t had a chance to reply to this :) The way in which I go about it usually is to ‘batches’ of comments – so I might decide that I’m going to do half the comments on my most recent post one night, and then the other half on another. If you look at this post, I did them for this one on 14 November. There’s a higher chance that your comment will slip through the net if you come in later to a post, after I’ve already been through all the comments. :)

        I’m going to try and do another batch of comments today, and will reply to your one here then. Which was your other comment I missed?

        • Thank you for responding; I never thought you intentionally didn’t respond. I’m new to your blog, and thought maybe II did something wrong. Anyway, my comment was that I just wanted to share with others that I designed one of my bangles with only Oval,Lights spacers, with a flamingo dangle in the middle. It can be worn with anything, but it really is great during the Christmas holidays……so colorful and sparkly. I’ve been collecting Pandora for quite some time, and own four bangles, and four of the classic bracelets….all loaded with charms. Again, thank you for getting back to me.

    • Well, I’ve just heard that both of these are coming to North America in January, so perhaps the UK will get lucky and we will get them too :) you never know! I have most of the previous ones too, I think they’re some of the nicest charms Pandora do these days!

      • Hooray, in January in North America… I will definitely keep an eye on the adorable little chinese man and get it as soon as it is available in the stores. He will keep good company to the lion dance charm, the piggy bank one and the korean and japanese doll charms that I have on one of the too many pandora bracelets I own.

  20. I love all 3. For now I want to buy Dance Lion and Sweet Panda and I bought Sunny doll with the kindly help of Kiki, your follower. I’m waiting for it, I’m so excited.

  21. Hi! More pandora! As you know, the zodiac animal of the next LUNAR NEW YEAR (2018) in some ASIAN COUNTRIES (such as Vietnam, China, South Korean…) is DOG so I wonder if Pandora will make a charm is DOG as symbol of next year.
    First, my favorite animal is dog. Second, my Zodiac Animal Sign is DOG. That’s why I’m really waiting for a dog charm for my Zodiac Animal Sign.
    Do you have any plan for making that charm?
    BTW, I’m Vietnamese and I’m addicted to PANDORA.
    Thank you!

    • They have a dog charm, it’s not necessarily for the new year, but I put together and Asian themed bracelet and I used the dog charm for me, the horse for my husband and mouse/rat for my son. Check them out. Just put the animal you’re looking for in the search area. Good luck!!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *