NW China strengthens e-commerce

Landlocked Gansu province's Commerce Department says it plans to push e-commerce development in agriculture, traditional commerce, tourism, culture and a couple of other areas based on a plan for 2015-17 that it announced in October, to make itself an e-commerce center in Northwest China.

It said it expects to build an online agricultural product supply base by using its abundant resources, since its apples and jujubes are well-received and known for their quality and a national herb e-commerce site making full use its rich herb sources.

An employee checks online orders at an e-commerce operating center in Wudu district, Gansu province. [Photo/xinhuanet.com]

Gansu is one of China's main herb producers, with hundreds of wild herbs, and putting it in second place in China. It has around 450 types of medicinal herbs that are known, such as Chinese angelica, Chinese rhubarb and licorice root.

Employees pack tea for online sales at a factory in Longnan city, Gansu province. [Photo/xinhuanet.com]

In the field of traditional commerce, the province says it will encourages retailers to open stores online and support online group shopping, for example, for catering and entertainment.

And in order to develop e-commerce tourism, a public service site under development in Gansu.

A rural Taobao operating center in Wudu district serves as the logistic center for famers to send and receive parcels. [Photo/xinhuanet.com]

Gansu also wants to explore its Dunhuang tourism resource, Silk Road scenic area and traditional Chinese medicine tourism and has got some of its scenic spots and travel agencies open websites, microblogs and Wechat to publicize tourism.  

Edited by Roger Bradshaw