From a 50-year-old herbalist living in the mountains to salesperson at a rural local specialty store, a university in China aims to give him the skills to become a livestreaming anchor.

Tianjin University recently opened a training camp for nearly 200 people in Dangchang County and nearby regions in northwest China's Gansu Province to teach them how to sell local products via live broadcast.

Livestreams have helped sell products that are overstocked in rural areas amid the coronavirus epidemic and has helped facilitate China's efforts in completely eradicating absolute poverty by 2020.

The 30-day-long remote teaching course include video editing steps, fan engagement, script writing, and practice in live broadcasting and other theoretical and practical skills.

After finishing the course, teachers and assistants in the training camp will also assist students in live broadcast planning and post-production, hoping students can do this on their own later.

Dou Fangtao, a camp student and a salesperson at a medicine store in DangchangCcounty, said he used to watch live broadcasts on video platforms every day but did not know how to make a similar one.

"From the training, I learned how to do it. I hope after the systematic learning, I can find a new sales channel for the local specialties and Chinese herbal medicines in our store," said Dou.

Tianjin University started to help lift Dangchang County out of poverty since 2013. An official at Tianjin University said that the goal of the training camp is to let more people involved to help high-quality agricultural products in impoverished counties find markets and people in rural areas increase their income.

(Cover image: Tianjin University. /VCG)