Sudeshna Sarkar (left), Beijing Review copyeditor, live-streams to promote agricultural products on an e-commerce platform in Fuping County, Hebei Province in north China, on September 15 (ZHANG WEI)

Sudeshna Sarkar says she was more nervous than when she took her college exam when she learned Chinese for a live-streaming on September 15.

It was the first time the Beijing Review copyeditor visited Fuping County, Hebei Province in north China. Chinese President Xi Jinping came here in 2012 to inspect the poverty-relief work.

"Three, two, one! Give the Link!" She shouted in Chinese, alerting her audience that the sale was on and they could start buying Fuping specialties at hefty discounts.

"I have seen farmers live-stream to sell goods online during the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Live-streaming has become one of China's most effective ways to fight poverty. Inspired by that, I wanted to live-stream to see if I can make some small contribution to help Fuping farmers sell their goods one day," she said.

Besides trying out the items on sale, including Chinese date, wild jujube juice and dried button mushroom, she took her audience to a mushroom greenhouse to see how the local poverty alleviation industry works. And, yes, she also did an off-the-cuff Indian dance in response to the audience's request.

Over 500,000 people watched the live-streaming. The activity got 590,000 likes.

According to the latest report released by China Internet Network Information Center, by March 2020, China had 710 million online shoppers, accounting for 78.6 percent of the country's total Internet users. The number of live-streaming shoppers was 265 million, accounting for 37.2 percent of online shoppers and 47.3 percent of live-streamers.

(Reporting from Fuping, Hebei Province)

Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar

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