Bringing Pearls Back From Vacation?

[worldtrekker]

I'm going to Beijing for vacation and am planning on purchasing quite a lot of pearl jewelry (my budget is $4000), both for myself and for gifts. (I'm getting my Christmas shopping done!) I'm a little worried about bringing this much jewelry back into the US. Does anyone have any advice about bringing them back into the US? Like, would I need to pay any taxes to bring them out of China? Would I need to pay any taxes to bring them into the US?
I've been looking around on the internet but nothing is very clear about the rules.
Thanks!