Live-streamers flock to eastern China’s e-commerce hub in search of fame and fortune, hawking wares online

  • Yiwu’s Beixiazhu aims to become China’s live-streaming e-commerce capital, as people flood in looking for new opportunities in the burgeoning industry
  • The city is offering incentives to live-streamers amid a slump in exports caused by the Covid-19 pandemic

Zheng Liuping selling a wok while live-streaming in Beixiazhu village. Photo: Handout

When night falls in Beixiazhu, the 22-hectare e-commerce hub in eastern China jumps to life. The roads congest with auto rickshaws with open beds full of goods, forcing local authorities to intervene and direct traffic. Amid the sounds of vehicles rolling by, a cacophony of tearing tape fills the air as express delivery services rush to fulfil orders.

The bustling, sleepless village of Beixiazhu, located in the manufacturing hub of Yiwu in Zhejiang province, has quickly transformed its traditional export-oriented industry into a live-streaming e-commerce La La Land. Since the pandemic upended the lives of exporters in the city, many have turned to live streaming in pursuit of new opportunities and wealth. Yiwu, a county-level city with a population of 1.2 million, now has about 60,000 people working in live-streaming e-commerce, according to local government data.

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