Employees observe from behind lighting equipment as their colleagues rehearse hosting a livestream session in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China. In the first quarter alone, over 100 Pohang County mayors turned to live online broadcasts to revitalise sales of local produce, state media reported. — Bloomberg
Sitting in front of a webcam, a young Chinese woman shows off a can of dried whitebait as her viewers feverishly press the “like” button.
The influencer is selling farm goods on behalf of Poyang County in China’s southern Jiangxi province, a region that’s recently been battered by severe floods. She’s part of a growing trend of government officials turning to e-commerce and social-media apps like Taobao and Douyin to boost sales of local produce, and in this case, provide emergency funds.
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