E-commerce now plays an increasingly major role in poverty alleviation. It is common to see rural entrepreneurships investing in projects that improve roads, networks and logistics infrastructures. CGTN's Cui Hui'ao visits one such start-up in the southern Guangdong Province to find out how it helps those living in poverty.

Alleviating poverty through e-commerce. It may sound like a novel idea, but not in this village in Zijin County of Heyuan City. Two years ago, Zhang Yuming started an e-commerce company called Cun Zhang Bo Bo, which in English roughly translates to "Uncle Village Chief". A software engineering major in college, Zhang came home with an ambition: to connect rural people with the rest of the world.

ZHANG YUMINGCEO, GUANGDONG CUN ZHANG BO BO ECOMMERCE "The rural countryside has many valuable resources, like tourism and agricultural produce. In the case of my village, farmers grow a lot of poultry and grapefruit, but they didn't know where to sell their products."

Such a dire situation was all too familiar to Liu Weikun, a poultry farmer who used to live in a shabby house. Back then, he could only sell by word of mouth.

LIU WEIKUN LOCAL FARMER "Sometimes I couldn't sell them and the poultry would die. I'd lose a ton of money. Now the e-commerce platform helps me sell my chicken, and I can finally make a steady stream of income."

Liu now lives in a real house. And his business is growing fast. He now sells 3,000 chickens and ducks a year on Cun Zhang Bo Bo, making more than 100 thousand yuan a year.

He says he has no idea who buys his poultry, only that demand is high. Beyond selling villager produce online, Zhang's e-commerce platform also focuses on tourism.

For example, Jinguang Ecological Park is one of its central projects. Located just an hour from economic hub Shenzhen, this park has beautiful rivers and gardens where tourists can come pick their own fruits and vegetables.

CUI HUI'AO JINGUANG VILLAGE, HEYUAN CITY "After a year of construction this ecological park will be open to public in just a few days. Zhang says it is expected to attract tens of thousands of urbanites to experience the food, scenery and countryside culture. And one could only imagine how this boom in rural tourism will benefit local villagers."

ZHENG XIAOFENG, SECRETARYJINGUANG VILLAGE, HEYUAN CITY "By the end of this month, more than 20 of our newly furnished guest houses will begin operations. In the future, villagers will also turn their own homes into guest houses. What's more is our hot spring resort. It will be a big draw for tourists too."

So far, almost all of the 280 village households have risen above the poverty level. Zheng says the next goal is to help them become rich, latching onto the momentum of this e-commerce business.

And for Liu Weikun, he plans to buy materials to build more barns, as demand for his poultry continues to rise. As he says, the more chicken he sells via e-commerce, the better the livelihood for his family. Cui Hui'ao, CGTN, Zijin County in Guangdong Province.