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Chinese hi-tech manufacturing hub Suzhou to spur local live-streaming e-commerce activity with generous subsidies, recruitment drive

  • Suzhou has drawn up 17 measures that include providing up to US$137,000 in cash subsidies to individual live streamers
  • The eastern city also aims to recruit more ‘high-level talent’ to its live-streaming e-commerce sector

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A bird’s-eye view of the central business district of Suzhou, the most populous city in eastern Jiangsu province, which serves as a major hi-tech manufacturing hub. Photo: Shutterstock
Ann Caoin Shanghai
Suzhou, a hi-tech manufacturing hub in eastern China, has unveiled a series of measures, including financial subsidies, to spur live-streaming e-commerce activity in the city, following the end of a regulatory crackdown on the country’s major internet companies.

The municipal government of Suzhou, the most populous city in eastern Jiangsu province, has drawn up 17 measures that include providing up to 1 million yuan (US$137,000) in cash subsidies to individual live streamers who generate more than 50 million yuan in annual sales and pay their taxes in the city, according to its WeChat post on Thursday that introduced this new policy.

Local authorities will also offer Chinese multichannel networks – organisations that directly work with brands to get endorsement from so-called key opinion leaders or influencers in social media – rewards of up to 1.2 million yuan each when they secure exclusive contracts with popular live streamers who generate annual sales of more than 100 million yuan.

Suzhou’s other measures involve recruiting more “high-level talent” to the city’s live-streaming e-commerce sector. The municipal government said these individuals would be eligible for various preferential policies, including housing subsidies and support for their children’s education.

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“At present, the digital economy, in which live-streaming e-commerce is an example, has a significant role in stimulating the real economy,” the municipal government said in its WeChat post.

This initiative by Suzhou, home to more than 300 companies that form part of China’s semiconductor supply chain as of 2022, reflects the growing interest among major cities to harness live-streaming e-commerce as a means to boost consumption.
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