The number of rural poor has decreased by since 2012 when the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held. In 2018, rural people were lifted out of poverty. As of the end of 2018, rural people were still living in poverty; but the inci
16.6 million 82.39 million 13.86 million
ages farmers to voluntarily invest their assets, money and skills in rural cooperatives in return for dividends and rent, and a salary if they also work for the cooperatives.
In November 2018, Xinyuanxin, the local farmers’ cooperative specializing in the production and marketing of traditional Chinese medicinal materials, held a dividend-distributing ceremony where 26 households were paid a total of 22,000 yuan ($3,275).
Now, poverty-stricken villagers say they are happy that by investing poverty-alleviation funds in the cooperative, they have not only Another important factor contributing to rural development and poverty alleviation is the development of the e-commerce industry. In 2018, e-commerce lifted all residents in 43 villages of Heze City in east China’s Shandong Province out of poverty, according to a report on Taobao Villages in China released by Ali Research on October 27.
Taobao Villages are those with annual ecommerce transactions of over 10 million yuan ($1.48 million) and more than 100 online stores. In 2018, the number of Taobao Villages in China exceeded 3,200, with total annual sales over 220 billion yuan ($32.7 billion).
In Suining County of east China’s Jiangsu Province, approximately one third of the labor force is currently involved in e-commerce, which contributed more than 50 percent of the increase in farmers’ income in 2017, according to Ali Research.
Four decades ago, Suining’s Shaji Town, with limited land, was a poor area. After reform and opening up, waste plastic processing gradually became its economic mainstay. In 2006, the county’s first batch of e-commerce stores were opened by Sun Han, a fine arts teacher, Chen Lei, former manager of a mobile communication company, and Xia Kai, a photo studio owner. The three decided to produce foreign-style furniture together. In 2007, they set up a furniture factory, making and selling the products, which brought them hefty profits and attracted other villagers to follow suit. In 2016, all villages in Shaji turned into Taobao Villages, and now furniture making has become the county’s backbone industry, according to Ali Research.
Shen Zhengping, Executive President of the Research Institute of Jiangsu Normal University, said Shaji’s experience in rural e-commerce development is inspiring for poverty alleviation in underdeveloped areas.