"Dear friends, welcome to our 'webcasting room.' Let's see our Tibetan pastries," says Daiqing Yongcuo, a 25-year-old woman from Xianggu, a village in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in Northwest China's Qinghai Province. She sells agricultural products, from local farmers, through livestreaming. The vast grassland, under the blue sky, is her "webcasting room."
Since she was a little girl, Daiqing has been herding oxen and sheep on the grassland. Xianggu, at an altitude of 3,500 meters above sea level, is renowned for the production of various agricultural products, including yak's milk and meat. However, as Xianggu was difficult to reach by public transportation, few "outsiders" knew about the pollution-free products.
In 2019, Daiqing quit her well-paying job, as a saleswoman in a company in Yushu. Within a short time, she returned home and took over her father's store (in Xianggu), which sold agricultural products. "I want to try my best to help rural residents promote their products throughout the country," says Daiqing.
She often recalls the hardships she encountered during the first year of running her business. For example, she lacked capital, repeat customers and the experience needed to develop her business. Despite such difficulties, Daiqing and her employees carried on. Given their efforts to promote sales of local farmers' products, the store has generated considerable profits (by selling the products) over the years.
Daiqing established a company (in Yushu) in 2021, so it would be easier to expand her business. During the past year, she has signed purchase and/or sales agreements with more than 40 herdsmen or agricultural cooperatives. She has also hired and trained nearly 30 sales agents, who are located in Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan and other regions in China.
Earlier this year, Daiqing began leading her employees in using the livestreaming platform to help villagers sell specialty products. During the past several months, the number of visitors to their online platform has increased substantially. So far, the company has earned more than 390,000 yuan (US $57,353) by selling local agricultural products through livestreaming. During the first half of this year, the company's sales revenues (including both online and offline sales) exceeded 1.2 million yuan (US $176,471).
"I'm pleased that we have helped farmers sell their products, which have won the recognition of numerous customers (across the country)," says Daiqing.
She plans to sign purchase and/or sales agreements with more farmers and herdsmen's cooperatives. She also plans to recruit 20 young people, to deliver yak's milk to customers' houses (in Yushu). That will not only help farmers increase their incomes, but will also create more job opportunities for local youths.
Daiqing recently told media about her "blueprint" to develop her business. "We will develop more specialty products and process more agricultural and livestock products," says Daiqing. "We, with workers with the Women's Federation of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, will establish a training base (in the prefecture), to help women improve their skills of creating handwoven items, so they can increase their incomes by selling the items."
(Women of China English Monthly September 2022 issue)
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