Poverty Alleviation: As wealth increases, appetite for better life grows

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While poverty still plagues much of northwestern China, some in Gansu province are helping themselves. They are spending their money on modern technologies. Yet receiving their online purchases remains one of the biggest challenges. CGTN's Xu Xinchen visited one village in Gansu and found out what set the trend for new buyers there.

A fresh, slightly-chilled apple on a sunny autumn day. A cool reprieve for 47-year-old farmer Du Yanlin and his wife, busy working on their corn — a major local crop. But the refrigerator used to chill the apple did not arrive until two months ago.

DU YANLIN LOCAL FARMER "Most of my neighbors have fridges now, it's quite convenient to store food."

A fridge is hardly a luxury, but Du spent a whole year thinking about whether or not to buy one. The German brand he bought cost him half of his annual harvest money. But Du saved up and he is now willing and able to keep up with the trend. With some help from technicians, he is happy with the purchase.

MA JUN, TECH SUPPORT TAOBAO SERVICE STATION IN WULIPU VILLAGE "The temperature is a bit cold, and you should keep it around 5 degrees Celsius in the cabinet. The temperature control is right here, just turn it."

Du bought his fridge online, yet, online shopping in his village was not even possible until two years ago — deliveries could not reach them back then.

A service station for Taobao, China's largest online shopping platform owned by Alibaba, opened a local storefront in late 2016 — extending logistics to local farmers' doorsteps.

ZHANG XIUJUAN, OWNER TAOBAO SERVICE STATION IN WULIPU VILLAGE "Villagers' demands for home appliances are pretty big — to be energy efficient, affordable and also have a nice look."

When the service station first opened, only one TV set and one refrigerator sold initially. But so far this year, locals have bought over 20 different home appliances including flat-screen TVs and washing machines.

XU XINCHEN WULIPU VILLAGE, GANSU PROVINCE "The owner of this Taobao service station is a local villager, but she spent years working in cities like Beijing and Tianjin before returning home. She says while local people's lives are improving, they need the right information to make choices that actually satisfy their demands."

ZHANG XIUJUAN, OWNER TAOBAO SERVICE STATION IN WULIPU VILLAGE "Villagers in the past could only hear about commercial products from TV and people who worked in other cities. But now service stations like mine are all over Gansu province, and we are also sharing information we get online."

Zhang is now a local know-it-all, eager to bring her village the latest and greatest information via her connections at Alibaba. She admits that her village still lags behind, but that also gives her hope that local people can be entrepreneurial and more brave to try new things.

That way, they can grow together and meet their increasing demand for better lives. Xu Xinchen, CGTN, Wulipu Village, Gansu Province.