Jasmine City is booming with e-commerce businesses – Xinhua

Mo Dianjin sells potted jasmine plants via live broadcast at a jasmine planting base in Hengzhou, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, May 10, 2024. (Xinhua/Zhao Huan)

NANNING, June 12 (Xinhua) — The iconic Chinese folk song Jasmine Flower begins with the lyrics “Beautiful jasmine flower.” In the city of Hengzhou, known for growing 60 percent of the world’s jasmine flowers, visitors are greeted by banners reading “Beautiful Jasmine Flower in Hengzhou.”

The beautiful white flowers, fueled by the rise of e-commerce that seamlessly connects growers with consumers, have created a thriving industry for a city in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Moreover, the industry encouraged young residents to return and start a business in their hometown.

Hengzhou, called the “hometown of jasmine in China”, boasts over 80 percent of the country’s total jasmine flower and jasmine tea production. It is home to over 330,000 jasmine flower growers and over 130,000 mu (approximately 8,666.67 hectares) of jasmine fields. In the rapidly developing e-commerce environment, live streaming has become a new factor influencing the sales of jasmine products.

In a cozy 12-square-meter room, Mo Dianjin stood surrounded by flowering potted jasmine plants. In front of a cellphone camera, he showed off each plant he held in detail, providing detailed explanations to live viewers.

“The fresh and fragrant scent of jasmine makes it a favorite home decoration. Thanks to live streaming, I can sell almost 20 pots of jasmine a day. This was possible thanks to our stable customer base,” said Mo, a senior student from Guangxi Economic and Trade Vocational Institute majoring in e-commerce. He is currently doing an internship at the jasmine planting base in Hengzhou.

Thanks to the wide reach of e-commerce and strong consumer demand, Hengzhou’s jasmine industry has separated itself from the traditional flower and tea duo. It now offers a wide range of products that have increased its added value, including potted plants, jasmine-based foods and medicinal products.

Bi Donghai, general manager of the jasmine planting base where Mo interns, sources the highest quality jasmine seedlings and old roots from local farmers, cultivating and processing them into potted jasmine plants and bonsai. Through live broadcasts and online platforms, potted jasmine plants can be distributed across the country.

A live streamer can achieve sales of more than 1,000 yuan (about US$140.58) a day, and top players earn a monthly income of more than 10,000 yuan, Bi said, adding that promising financial prospects have attracted young locals to work in the industry, and they even withdrew it. they had previously looked for work outside Hengzhou.

Chen Rilian is one of the retired businessmen. “During my work in the city of Hangzhou, a leader in China’s e-commerce landscape, I came across this industry. So I decided to use e-commerce to expand the reach of jasmine flowers and tea in my hometown,” said Chen, now the owner of a tea company in Hengzhou, after returning to Hengzhou in 2011, he reflected on the decision to enter e-commerce.

Chen admitted that his early entrepreneurial journey was difficult due to limited awareness of e-commerce at the time. “When they watched me buy multiple sets of computers, my friends and family thought I was about to start an internet café.”

However, with perseverance, Chen has made great progress to the point where he now runs his own tea processing factory and has developed his own brand.

In order to help more farmers change and diversify sales channels, Hengzhou has organized various training activities to develop young e-commerce talents for rural industrial development and promote local products.

The number of e-commerce companies in Hengzhou has now exceeded 6,500, an increase of over 100 compared to the same period last year. Huang Zhenwu, a local official in charge of e-commerce, noted that this rapid growth has given new energy to rural economic development.

In 2023, the city recorded as many as 6.695 billion yuan of e-commerce transactions, up 12.17% year-on-year. Notably, online retail sales reached 2.73 billion yuan, creating jobs and starting businesses for more than 19,000 people.

The strong expansion of the e-commerce industry has also stimulated the development of the express logistics network. In March 2023, the city’s joint logistics and express distribution center began operations. Thanks to closer cooperation with express logistics platforms, the costs of transporting agricultural products continue to fall.

“We are currently promoting the use of AI-powered digital live broadcasting technology throughout our jasmine industry chain. This not only reduces labor costs but also improves operational efficiency,” Huang said. ■