E-commerce and livestreaming have improved the living conditions of Chinese in impoverished areas, offering them opportunities to live better lives. 

Since the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) published a policy to establish e-commerce platforms and sell products from impoverished areas online, several livestreaming events were held to help eradicate poverty and boost economic development in "Three Regions and Three Prefectures." 

The "Three regions" refers to the Tibet Autonomous Region, Yunnan Province, and the south of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Meanwhile, the "Three Prefectures" refers to the Liangshan Prefecture in Sichuan, the Nujiang Prefecture in Yunnan and the Linxia Prefecture in Gansu.

In response to the policies, many online shopping platforms cooperated with their local authorities to sell agricultural products via livestream. 

In southwest China's Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, a 14-hour livestream on the shopping platform Pinduoduo attracted 75 million people and showed 88 different types of local products, achieving an 890 percent rise of turnover in July. According to Sina News, in central China's Yanyuan County, Liangshan Prefecture in Sichuan, nearly 180 million people watched a livestream on Pinduoduo that sold local apples, more than quadrupling sales.

Some young Chinese also lent their support to the cause by selling products via livestreams to help those in need.

In February, Wang Xiumei from northwest China's Pingli County in Shaanxi Province, helped 51 low-income families to eradicate poverty by selling a sort of local herb through livestreaming on Pinduoduo, Xinhua reported. 

In August, He Shuang, a former airline stewardess from Liangshan Prefecture in Sichuan, sold four million kilograms of pomegranates for local farmers in three months, earning 30 million yuan in total, the Chinese language newspaper Yangtse Evening Post's Ziniu News reported.

E-commerce logistics also provides employment opportunities for people in central China's Dechuan County, Liangshan Prefecture in Sichuan. Twenty-three-year-old father Ayue (nickname) is a local courier who works at Cainiao Guoguo, a parcel delivery service under Alibaba Group Holdings' Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, China's largest online mailing platform. 

In the past few years, he had to work far away from home to make money to raise his two children. But now, this job allows him to work in Dechuan County with a considerable salary, affording him precious time with his family and children.

According to China's National Bureau of Statistics, the number of people lifted out of poverty each year has been reduced from 99 million in 2012 to 55 million in 2019, with the poverty ratio falling from 10.2 to 0.6 percent, showing a reduction in overall regional poverty. By 2020, China will beat poverty with precision, enabling all the rural populations living below the current poverty line to shake off poverty.

(Top image via FCP)