Foreigners join China’s livestream sales army

Lalo Lopez from Spain practicing with a drone at a studio in Shanghai, where he usually live-streams to offer products on an Aliexpress channel in Spain. — Hector Retamal/AFP

BEIJING: Late at night, Lalo Lopez heads to a small Shanghai studio for a livestream, punting Chinese products from cycling shorts to vacuum cleaners to Spanish speakers around the world.

The 33-year-old Spaniard, who describes himself as an artist, DJ and YouTuber, is in the vanguard of the growing ranks of foreigners hired by mainland agencies to extend China's livestream sales mania beyond its borders.