E-commerce raises incomes, spirits in NW China farming community

Dahuaishu village is not the only place in Chunhua county where villagers use an e-commerce platform to sell goods.

Xi Yijun, 45, who lives in Xijia villiage, Guanzhuang town of Chunhua county, lost his legs in an accident 20 years ago. He ran a little shop to earn a living and his wife had to do all the farm work.

With the assistance of Gongyi Zhonghang, he began to help his wife sell their farm products.

"At the very beginning, I had no idea how sales would be. I wondered whether there would be anyone interested in the fruit planted by my wife. But things went beyond my expectation. The first day I ran the business, I got 21 orders, which encouraged me a lot.

"It is inconvenient for me to work without legs and thus my wife had to do all the work, which made her really tired. There was a time I almost lost confidence in life. However, since I joined the e-commerce platform, our sales became better and I could do all the work on a computer," Xi said with smile on his face.

According to statistics released by the Bank of China, there are 328 people who live in Chunhua county like Xi, who run their own businesses on the e-commerce platform to increase income.

"The reason for us to introduce e-commerce to them is not limited to helping them get rid of poverty, but to assist with building confidence and expanding horizons. It is important to let them know that with reform and opening-up, Chinese people can do business in a more direct and convenient way, which is also more beneficial," Wang said.