How to Develop Rural E-commerce? The Practice of a Member of the Doctoral Service Corps
On March 5, seeing the government work report's references to "full coverage of urban and rural broadband networks" and "advancing the rural e-commerce project," Chen Qiulin was genuinely delighted that the internet would reach more villages.
He is an associate researcher at the Institute of Population and Labor Economics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. As one of the 15th and 16th batches of Doctoral Service Corps members selected by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and the Communist Youth League Central Committee, he took a temporary post as deputy mayor of Zhalantun City, Inner Mongolia, in November 2014, and starting this year he has also taken a temporary post as deputy secretary-general of the Hulunbuir Municipal Government. In the course of promoting e-commerce work locally, he has deeply felt "the power of a single network cable" - connecting China's countryside with the whole world.
"To develop rural e-commerce in the central and western regions, the government must guide or even lead in the early stages." In Chen Qiulin's view, rural e-commerce development lacks networks, logistics and atmosphere, but what it lacks most is talent. "In some places, not only do the 'peacocks' fly southeast, even the 'sparrows' fly southeast." For example, network operations positions require relatively high creativity, resource matching and analytical skills, and such people are often "impossible to find." Members of the Doctoral Service Corps, however, can leverage their own strengths and work hard on guiding ideas and matching resources.
One approach Chen Qiulin came up with was "invite in, go out." They selected a group of rural e-commerce leaders composed of Party and government officials, enterprise personnel and young people to study and receive training in places with developed e-commerce such as Suichang in Zhejiang and Suining in Jiangsu; they also invited e-commerce researchers, Alibaba lecturers and hands-on experts to Zhalantun City to hold discussion sessions and training classes for cadres at or above the section level and enterprise personnel across the city.
"Changing ideas starts with changing leaders, enterprises and young people. Once their enthusiasm is stirred up, they will figure out how to proceed on their own and will also motivate more people." Chen Qiulin set up about a dozen e-commerce WeChat groups - entrepreneurship groups, channel groups, county magistrate groups... Every day all kinds of exchange messages chime "di di di" without stop.
Impoverished household Zhang Xiurong benefited from exactly this kind of resource matching. On January 26, 2015, Chen Qiulin invited e-commerce expert Wang Xiangdong to Zhalantun City to give a lecture. While surveying the situation of impoverished groups, they felt that Zhang Xiurong's small workshop-style black fungus cultivation could use e-commerce to expand its scale and escape poverty sooner.
Later, they helped Zhang Xiurong successfully raise 121,500 yuan in the first crowdfunding campaign in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, initiated with the support of the YouChange Foundation and the Taobao Specialty China Inner Mongolia Pavilion, build a hanging-bag greenhouse of more than 300 sq m, and register and establish the "Aunt Zhang Black Fungus Professional Cooperative" and the "Yi Ba Mu Er" brand trademark together with several impoverished households. Through e-commerce technical training, "Yi Ba Mu Er" successfully achieved online sales. Not long ago, Zhang Xiurong happily told Chen Qiulin, "The net income is more than 30,000 yuan a year." Many neighbors noticed that Zhang Xiurong's youngest son, disabled from doing migrant work, has become much more cheerful than before because he can help the family with e-commerce sales.
"Rural e-commerce must ultimately benefit farmers and make local industries produce real results." Chen Qiulin said that major platforms such as Taobao and JD.com mainly focus on industrial goods going downward, while agricultural products going upward need more government promotion. "Agricultural products absolutely must not rely on low prices, because that is unsustainable. If farmers don't make money, it is impossible to sustain reproduction. We must truly raise the economic added value of agricultural products and make ordinary people willing to produce green products."
Besides economic benefits, another important significance of rural e-commerce is "internet plus rural areas," "helping farmers understand the world and develop themselves." Chen Qiulin introduced that in the youth entrepreneurship incubation park established by the Zhalantun Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League, 50% of youth entrepreneurship projects are related to e-commerce. Some young people who once worked at state-owned enterprises even quit their jobs to start e-commerce businesses, and a number of college students have successively returned to their hometowns to become "new farmers" and begin the path of e-commerce rebuilding their hometowns.
"Even if it fails, we should try." When Chen Qiulin first started e-commerce work, such support from the main Party and government leaders gave him full confidence. At present, Zhalantun City, selected as a comprehensive demonstration county for e-commerce entering rural areas, is exploring combining e-commerce with the construction of a public service system - for example, when piloting e-commerce in communities, adding smart libraries, charity supermarkets and other facilities. The government guides in the early stage and gradually withdraws later, truly achieving market-oriented operation. "Adding service functions to e-commerce makes it a more comprehensive lever."
Winning recognition and support from ordinary people is what makes Chen Qiulin happiest. After his one-year service term ended, because the local area asked him to stay, the organization decided to send him to serve another year. "Doctorate, service, corps" - Chen Qiulin hopes that in the future, doctors serving in different fields will play an even greater role in working as a group, engage more in cross-disciplinary exchange and resource sharing, and do things together to better serve the local area.
It is understood that since 1999, the Doctoral Service Corps has successively dispatched 16 batches and 2,426 doctoral degree holders to the western regions, old revolutionary base areas and border ethnic regions for service and training, producing good economic and social benefits.