A spate of food safety scandals has erupted in China in recent years

In recent years there has been a spate of food safety scandals in China, where residents of big cities are eager to eat agricultural products that are grown in natural or traditional ways (without using large amounts of fertiliser and pesticides). The 83-Year-old Li Chengcai and his wife, 76-Year-old Cheng Youfang, benefited from the trend. They planted white radish in fields near Huangshan and received orders from customers in distant cities online. Many people are willing to spend more money to buy safe and delicious food.

Li's husband and wife live in Bishan, in southern Anhui province, with 2800 local population. Their stone house is on a narrow street with some dilapidated houses on both sides. More than a century ago, the village was at its peak and some wealthy businessmen built houses here. Many villagers, including Lee's four daughters, have moved to the city today. In the 2011, China's urban population for the first time exceeded half of the total population, but the illiterate and only local dialect of the Li couple said they had no intention of leaving the country. Fortunately, they have a new opportunity, and many farmers will get it in the coming years.

About a year ago, the 26-year-old Young village officer Zhang Yulai to find Cheng Li. In the summer of 2012, China's media industry was talking about genetic modification and food safety issues, Zhang Yu and several colleagues came up with an idea. They registered an account on Sina Weibo, in the name of the village official, to publicize the fresh specialties planted in the Huangshan area in traditional ways. Soon after, they opened a shop on Alibaba's Taobao to match local farmers with city customers. The first order is to buy five pounds of sweet corn, the buyer is in the port city of Dalian residents.

The online store, called the young village officer Farm, attracts customers from Beijing and Shanghai, with about 10,000 followers. Currently, there are about 10,000 fans on Weibo. There are currently 27 farmers supplying the store, including Li Chengcai, who sell radish. Customers order online, and then Zhang Yu to inform farmers, and solve logistics and distribution problems. Zhang Yu said the store was successful because people were falling in love with traditional farming practices and their strict control over quality. She posted a lot of photos on social networking sites, detailing. Her team will check the harvest and discard the bad parts. "We tend to work with mountain farmers because the local environment is better," she said. ”

Zhang Yu says local households generally earn only 600 yuan a month, while farmers who sell agricultural products online can increase their income by One-third. Their store's best-selling products are dried, hard tofu and canned honey. Many farmers are illiterate and have never used the internet, but with the help of young village officials, they can still get the economic benefits of E-commerce. Mu, manager of a Bishan inn, said they could use the internet on their phones. Zhang Yu is using her millet phone to post information on Weibo.

Zhang Yu's online store reflects a growing trend that may change the country's economic prospects and slow the migration of young villagers to cities. A report last December by China's E-commerce giant Alibaba showed that Taobao stores with rural IP registrations increased by 25% last year to more than 2 million. At least some E-commerce enterprises not only increase the income of farmers, but also make some people rich. Liu Yuguo, a former farming man, founded a yarn-selling online shop in 2007 in suburban Beijing, where he buys yarn from Inner Mongolia and employs 200 people during the peak season. He is driving a BMW now.

Rural residents also surf the internet to buy things that are not readily available in local stores. Because of the popularity of television and social media, "Consumers in remote areas now have a strong sense of brand," said Jeff Walters of the Boston Advisory Group in Beijing. Bishan's Mu said he bought shoes on Taobao because local shoe stores "only sell cheap non-delivery." ”

A June 2013 Taobao study found that Chinese consumers of small cities in 2012 accounted for more income than consumers in big cities. A March 2013 report by the McKinsey Global Institute, "China's Electronic retailing revolution", says that online shoppers in small Chinese cities spend an average of 27% of their disposable income on internet purchases. This "narrows the gap between expectations and the supply of goods on the ground," said Chen Yougang, a McKinsey Chinese partner and co-author of the report. ”

In Suichang, Zhejiang Province, the local government set up a network of goods to store and pick-up points to facilitate the residents online shopping. Barney Tan, a lecturer at the University of Sydney, Australia, who studied in Suichang, said: "Farmers can buy shampoo and farm supplies in large quantities, and some common delivery points have been established locally." ”

Although there is no sign of a reversal in the trend towards urban mobility in rural China, the development of e-commerce in rural areas does provide more opportunities. "We need to better balance urban and rural development," said Nen, a media editor who has traveled to the country to study rural development. He is worried about the underdeveloped social costs of rural development. Chen Yougang of McKinsey says villagers ' online stores and other businesses have potential. "The Chinese love of food is opening up the market," he said. The internet has freed millions of Chinese entrepreneurs. "Author/christina Larson editor/Sun Hao translation/Little Feather

In short, the development of E-commerce in rural areas provides more opportunities. China last year increased the number of online shops registered with rural IP by 25% per cent, to more than 2 million.