E-Commerce Poverty Alleviation in Longnan City.docVIP

E-Commerce Poverty Alleviation in Longnan City 　　LI Shengrong no longer dreams of escaping poverty. The 54-year-old， from Gansu Province， northwestern China has seen massive changes due to e-commerce. His home in Caotan Village， Chengxian County， Longnan City， is 80 kilometers away from the county seat， and for a long time had no access to highway， electricity and postal services， let alone the Internet. 　　“I used to leave home at 5 a.m. to sell eggs at the county fair and come back at 10 p.m，” He said. “Whenever the mud roads on the mountainside were destroyed by heavy rains， I would have no choice but stay at home.” Now， things are quite different. 　　“Now， my free-range chickens and eggs can be conveniently sold through our village Taobao shop. Starting with a mere 14 chickens， I have sold over 1，000 online. My earnings increased by more than RMB 4，000 this year.” When asked about his future plans， Li Shengrong said he wanted to scale-up sales to 1，500 birds and see his organic chickens served on tables in big cities. 　　 Dramatic Changes in the Village 　　Within three years， isolated Caotan Village has flourished thanks to the policy of alleviating poverty through e-commerce. Chengxian County has wonderful organic produce， typical of the area， but until recently farmers were unable to access the wider market and， as a result， village incomes were low. Encouraged by national policies targeted at alleviating poverty， the county government introduced the idea of e-commerce to small impoverished villages. By installing an Internet cable connection and creating an online village shop， they were able to connect the organic produce with consumers. They also supported and promoted the initiative by providing project support， policy services， express logistics， and online stores. 　　In September 2013， Chengxian County government began to encourage college graduate village officials to open online shops and also held their first ecommerce training class. Zhang Xuan