Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable.
From the heart of Beijing to the edges of the global stage, you are at Roundtable.
I'm Niu Henglin.
Across the world, governments are trying to answer a key question.
How can digital commerce strengthen, not replace, the real economy.
In China, a new set of policy guidelines from multiple ministries aims to do exactly that.
Improve global logistics, better utilize AI technology, reduce barriers for exporters and deepen the integration between e-commerce platforms and offline industries.
Let's dig into the policies and see what can we do and what will we benefit.
For today's show, I'm joined by Yusheng and Feifei.
Now pull up a chair and join the conversation.
For years, e-commerce has often associated with one thing, online shopping.
But today it has evolved into something far more complex.
It connects factories to global markets, helps small businesses export, supports logistics innovation and increasingly shape how people discover restaurants, services and experiences in their own cities.
So, before talking about the new guidelines and the possibility it may open, I want to ask both of you a question.
What is the last time you do something that is purely offline and has nothing to do with the information, the channels, the recommendations, the paying, the ticketing of any online platforms purely offline.
It is actually a very broad range, to be honest.
You have to do a lot of things purely offline.
You need to eat, need to when you watch a film, you all of these things are offline.
But i think what you're trying to ask is um, at such a digital era, what kind of things that you can do online?
One specific thing that you did offline that has nothing to do with your online experience or online, let's say, access.
I think it can be a little bit counterintuitive, because I am the person who is really kind of relying on internet.
That's true.
Our tech guy on the team.
Thanks for saying that.
But I still have the habit of buying clothes in brick and mortar stores.
Oh, that's very vintage.
I barely buy clothes online.
Okay, that's one thing you can do offline.
Fei-Fei?
Well, it's a very tricky question.
I want to say I go jogging without any digital technology.
Then I realized I have a watch. that sort of connect me to the internet as well.
And then the only thing I think I do complete 100 offline with nothing to do with the online world is chatting with friends.
This is how intertwined my life is with the internet.
Yeah, I'm asking this because I realized that yes, in our life we still have something that we can do purely offline.
I don't have to go to a restaurant because I got the information from online.
I can just see it on the corner of a city that I know of or I'm traveling to, and I find it interesting.
Sure, that can happen.
I can go to a brick-and-mortar store for a, no matter if it's my clothes or daily necessities.
But the thing is, you can also do these things because of certain recommendations of a post on social media which you got online.
You can also go to a city or maybe your entire traveling plan is based on someone else's.
You are stealing their plan because you find it very interesting.
You want to go to the city and you want to enjoy the kind of vibe services, food culture that they said, that they've enjoyed quite so much on their social media posts, which is also an online information we get.
So that is telling us here in China, in the Chinese society, how much intertwined the online and offline service platforms, experience are becoming.
And that answers the initial question of how come we want to further integrate.
It's not because by further integrating we can well.
It's not only because By further integrating the online and offline platforms, merchandise and also all of the businesses, can we further improve the development of both industries.
Very, very broad and major industries we're talking about here, but also because it will definitely make everybody's everyday life a bit easier and maybe a little bit more fun.
And also inclusive on some level because, based on this new document, new guidelines that we are talking about today, I think a lot of emphasis is putting on, for example, small businesses or people in the rural areas, simply because, with the current development of digital platforms across China, we've sort of reached to a scale that well, is one of the largest in the world.
That's for sure.
But we are also seeing this.
I would say disconnect between the large players like the Alibaba, like the large fast food chains, versus a restaurant right across the corner.
That's not a franchise.
That is not putting them online.
It's just a family business, for example.
But they are somehow become the vulnerable group in today's digital world.
Simply they don't have the resources or capability to navigate through a lot of different technologies out there.
And also it's sort of leveling the playing field to the level that they're not able to compete with a franchise.
We're trying to solve that problem or at least providing those small and medium enterprises a means to solve that problem.
But before digging into the details and looking at different aspects that have been mentioned in the guideline, let's take a look at this guideline first.
We know it's a new policy framework jointly released by six government departments, and it's talking about how to make the e-commerce not only a channel, a sales channel, but also almost like an engine to upgrade different industries, empower small businesses and also empower rural industries, like Fei-Fei has mentioned, and connect China more deeply to the global market.
So let's take a look, paint a bigger picture about this guideline.
First of all, this is a new guideline to better connect e-commerce with the real or physical economy, which means businesses that make and sell real goods and services.
So the plan outlined 16 measures focusing on areas such as technological innovation, cross-border trade, rural e-commerce regulation and also financial support.
So this guideline actually brought the digital world and the physical economy closer together.
We mentioned some of these physical things that we never do online and some of the things that we can just get so much more connected through the internet, through online.
So I think this guideline is trying to make these things combined better.
So the plan puts a strong emphasis on helping small and medium-sized businesses tap into e-commerce more effectively, while also creating new opportunities for rural areas.
So I think it covers a huge part of the economy in the whole country and it is also covering so many aspects and we're going to talk about them.
There have been many specific articles.
One thing that I find really interesting but confuses my foreign friends a lot is the guidelines and policies and also sometimes the one-year plan, three-year plan and five-year plan published in the Chinese sources system.
By saying the Chinese system, I mean, yes, they have designated or target audience.
That's the industries that pay close attention to government policy.
But at the same time, you can also see many of these policy papers in Chinese media.
And for my foreign friends.
They do not know what is happening because they do not understand how a simple line, a simple sentence in such a policy paper might really point to the direction an industry can develop to.
They don't really quite understand the intricate encouragement in the kind of policy area that you can move to the kind of partner you should be looking out for.
Because after these kind of policies, these kind of guidelines, the next thing that would happen would be local governments might find out the kind of project that they want to encourage.
They would give out the kind of subsidies that would allow different companies and real small and medium enterprises to develop to the right direction quote unquote right direction that is encouraged in these kind of paperwork.
So we want to take a look at some of these sentences and give you the stories behind these sentences, and maybe in the future that can happen because of these specific sentences.
So the first article I noticed here is about specifically what Fei-Fei said, also about the infrastructure or the rural e-commerce development, because here we talked about the fact that further implement the digital commerce, revitalization or revitalizing agriculture.
And we also talked about local specialty products, finding a way to better establish that segment and building rural specialty brands and helping agricultural products reach broader markets.
And I believe that is also related to other articles, including promoting the kind of live stream that showcases specifically specialties from villages or specialties from a specific farm land that is growing, for example, oranges.
I'll talk about the orange story a little bit later.
But do you find this interesting as much as I do?
I think so because what I saw is that the whole upgrade of these rural e-commerce is it's not only about farmers doing live streaming or they have the platform to sell their products on these online platforms.
Of course, this is a very important step, but we've been doing that for really a long time.
And the thing is that right now, selling fruit from these rural areas, it's about digitalizing the entire process and the entire supply chain.
And one example is that I saw that farmers in Fujian sold over 20 tons of loquats through live streams and then combining delivery services, online sales and even tourism.
So they developed the whole industry through that kind of a process.
Product, specific products or the local specialty.
Turning the online viewers into real life visitors.
So I think that is the way that we are actually saying the word upgrading, when we can actually make the whole industry or maybe combining different industries together to make the economy better.
And also, I think, when it comes to the logistics when it comes to these kind of agricultural produce, is that yes, currently we are having a pretty robust logistical system throughout across China currently.
But when it comes to still a small village in a very mountainous area, for example, deep in the mountains of Guizhou or in Xizang, they're still facing difficulties when it comes to, first of all, getting connected to on the digital world.
And two, how do they deliver their produce out of their village on a timely manner?
Because they're fresh produce, they can gone bad really fast.
And so I think in this guideline they are sort of giving out encouragements or in certain ways that is pointing to that direction for, for example, local governments or industry associations or even company platform companies themselves, that you can still look into these kind of still loopholes in the logistics systems in China and find, helping them to match their supply with the market demand first of all, and also train their local talents, teaching them about how to use these platforms and how to learn these kind of digital skills, and also maybe I think a lot of platforms are already doing that is, they launch a dedicated section on their either website or apps called local specialties, and by tapping on that button you can see a lot of recommendations coming from the platforms themselves.
That is sort of promoting this kind of fresh produce to consumers more directly and also you also, I think from a consumer's point of view, you also get to know the stories behind the orange you buy or the tomatoes that you hope to get delivered the next day.
So that also links to that consumption upgrade that we are talking about as well.
I do know the story behind the orange I buy.
I visited the an orange plantation area in Hubei province.
They've got one of the best types, genres of oranges in China.
And the thing that impressed me the most was the fact that not only are they selling their local specialties online nowadays not nowadays, five years ago they're also bringing back the young people back from the city, back to their hometown, back to the countryside, because now they have a very comprehensive e-commerce platform and industry and no matter if you are finding more automatic way to harvest and to package different types of oranges, selling these oranges in different seasons of the year.
But also you can manage, you can operate your online store, you can live stream.
And when I asked them, what kind of live stream are you looking for?
He very frankly said I do not really need those who can use the kind of wording quite so fluently, like those online streamers.
What I really need is those from the field.
They own the land, they know their product and it is okay if they stutter a little bit, as long as They look very frank and making consumers believe oh, this person must not con me.
If anything, I can trick them.
That kind of personality would be the personality they look for.
And five years later, still, this person is in my WeChat friends list.
I still buy Orange directly from him.
And every year I would see him posting the kind of advertisement asking for talent, either live streamers or those who are operating these platforms.
Now we know that he is, of course, still creating jobs for local people, but the talent pool is not enough for their industry.
They are attracting talent from outside of the countryside as well.
So that's how developed, I think, for his case specifically.
But I like what Fei-Fei has mentioned about having major brands going to rural areas, because they can make things more standardized, in the sense that if a place sell really good egg yes, that's nice.
But if a full supply chain can not only sell their eggs but also include a one product, one code, traceability system for each and every egg, it will definitely help consumers to believe them, to trust them, a bit more.
And yes, I'm talking about specific project that is happening in Fuzhou, and the project has generated more than 50 jobs at nearby poor trade farms in just one village, and each with an average annual income of about 60000 yuan, which is not shabby at all in the local village.
So from all these examples we get to see how we want to and we see the potential and also the need to further help local rural area develop.
And linking rural area with the city buyers is one thing, but linking the industries here in China and overseas is another thing that the guideline is trying to do.
Yeah, and currently I think, the digital platform a lot of platforms.
Companies in China are pretty highly linked to a lot of overseas warehouses, production bases, other companies.
It's developing quite fast and comprehensively.
But there is still a problem.
For example, we buy a lot of fruits from another country.
For instance, we buy durians from Thailand or Vietnam or Malaysia.
And what happens along the line is that for us in China to get a Thai produced durians, for example, They need to get through a number of different agencies along the way.
For example, they need to, of course, farmers in Thailand need to produce them.
And then there are companies collecting these fruits.
And then they sort of transport the fruits to an exporter.
And the exporter exports the fruits to an importer in China.
And the importer hand those fruits to a wholesaler in China retailer, and then to the platform and then finally reaching to our hands, the demand side of the market.
And now I think what these guideline is trying to do is sort of streamline this process.
You they're going through I know six, seven layers.
Is that why these durians can be so expensive?
Possibly.
And also thinking about the farmers who are actually growing these durians.
They definitely are not on the upper hand when it comes to these revenues generated.
So what platforms can do is sort of setting up a direct sourcing centers, for example in a place in Thailand, and they can work with local agencies and with local communities to establish together a standardized harvesting process or sorting process, or deploy cold chain logistics so that each durian, as Hongli mentioned, comes with a traceable code.
And then, directly from the orchard to consumers.
These durians can be transported within, I don't know, 72 hours within three days.
So Chinese consumers get the durians much faster, fresher, and also cheaper.
And on the farmer side they can bypass a lot of these different layers of agencies and they can have their income rise.
And when it comes to the local economy in that region, in Thailand, for example still in Thailand they can also benefit.
They can generate new jobs, they can have more revenues when it comes to different layers of the economy.
So I think right now, what we are seeing of integrating China's digital platforms with the global supply chain, we're sort of seeing that, as we are, Chinese people are buying globally.
That's the slogan that we often use, but we're also hoping to benefit in globally.
So by streaming lining, by cutting out these six, seven layers of different agencies along the way, we can bring products and start to going actually to the local production system.
And we can have this platform, digital platforms also integrating their technology, their digital know-how to their local ecosystem economy as well.
So this is the grand goal.
Exactly.
I think it totally makes sense that when we want to make the world more connected, I think online and e-commerce is a very good way.
And it's kind of, to some extent, it's very much the only way sometimes.
And then it is a very important thing for us to actually reduce some of the burdens along the way.
So I think this guideline also highlight efforts to expand cross-border e-commerce and further develop initiatives like the Silk Road e-commerce program.
And I think the core is not only about, as Feifei mentioned, a lot of these layers.
It's also about the cost, the time, the barriers of international business.
So what I saw is that there are like faster tax refunds for exporters.
So companies can now receive tax refunds as soon as goods leave the country, instead of just waiting months or even a year, and this significantly improves cash flow for some of these small and medium-sized businesses, giving them more flexibility to invest and also grow.
I think it is quite important in a business world because cash flow is sometimes the very vital um aspect that you can run a company, And then, when we're talking about actually benefiting outside, it's also a very important thing to think about.
So new logistic options is also, I think, helping the development of the e-commerce and also global e-commerce.
Railways like China-Europe freight trains are becoming kind of key logistics channel alongside air and also sea shipping.
So Some of these heavy goods, like furniture machinery, can now be shipped more cheaply and reliably to Central Asia and also Europe.
So that's, I think, a very good measure that we are looking at and developing in recent years.
I don't know if you remember, but here on Roundtable almost all of the major shopping festivals.
When we do a show dedicated to that, we talk about the fact that the shipping seems faster and faster.
I made an order now. and tomorrow morning the goods can be right on my doorstep.
Or maybe this afternoon.
What happened?
Why is it so fast?
I thought this fridge I'm buying is made in Guangdong province.
How come it's already there?
That is because They have already put many of these goods in the warehouses around the country, and that is also how it's going to happen in the future, because we also talk about to encourage or support the overseas warehouses for cross-border e-commerce and improve global smart logistics platforms.
In the near future, hopefully the China speed for getting your product can be the Chinese good speed for getting your product, even for overseas buyers, so they can better enjoy the services.
When we travel to different places, when we interview people, especially in these logistic areas basis, and we talk to them and they talk about how many overseas warehouses they plan to build in these cities, in these countries, and they talk about how they wish to also take their technologies there the technology to sort different goods into different places, the technology um powered or empowered robots that can help them do the sorting process, and all these in the future will definitely happen faster with the new guidelines in place encouraging these kind of movements.
And, besides that, another highlight of this guidelines is that it also encourages e-commerce platforms to develop their very own, their very designated specialized AI technology or AI large model, which is definitely in time because nowadays you cannot talk about anything without mentioning AI.
But also one is a really smart AI, a good AI, an AI that can be put in place in use for your needs, specialty or your industry.
It's still something that we struggle with.
We try to move towards.
And also when it comes to the whole supply chain, I mean from the production side to the demand side.
There's still a lot to do when it comes to harnessing what artificial intelligence can offer.
First of all, they can be more precise matching when it comes to who are producing them and who needs them, and also on a global scale.
This is a long list that we can talk about.
And then there is also about the quality control, about the traceability that AI can come in to help.
And also when it comes to Setting up an overseas-based warehouse.
I think it can be extremely challenging for small businesses, for example in China.
I read on TikTok about an American consumer getting an endless inflow of chopsticks produced in China.
I watched that too.
Yeah, simply because that's the speculation online.
Is that maybe because the chopstick wholesaler in China is not able to afford a warehouse in the United States?
But when it comes to AI coming into place, maybe there can be a large model that can have this global coordination so that these small businesses don't have to think about setting up their own specific warehouses, but maybe they can take advantage of a nearby shared warehouse.
That's just my anticipation out there.
And also there can also be, you know, intelligence services that break down a lot of barriers when it comes to real time communication between buyers and sellers, especially across borders, across languages, that you don't need to worry about.
I think it's also happening.
You don't have to worry about an American, English speaking consumer consulting certain issues or complaining about something in English.
While I'm sitting here in China, only being able to speak Mandarin, I'm not able to communicate and solve that problem for them.
So this is how AI can come in to help when it comes to the whole process of the whole supply chain across the world.
And I think right now in this era, of course, the e-commerce is very important.
And the thing is that the whole industry...
The channel, the way that people shop and a lot of these methods.
They are kind of mostly saturated right now.
And I think the addition of AI has, I think, really blown a lot of people's minds.
I think, added some of the channels for more people can actually get a touch on these e-commerce platforms.
We talked about how people can now order food or bubble tea with just chatting with a chat bot.
And now we can get a car heling through some chatbot.
You can just tell them, I need a car with fresh air and I want the cheapest option.
And then they will just get a car like that for you.
So of course now young people have a lot of these methods, do their online shopping.
But I think it is these kind of ways are opening more channels for maybe elderly people or who are not really familiar with these online shopping ways, and then it is easing um, the i think, the stress of actually the when you're thinking about going online this, there is a threshold for this certain group of people.
They think that it is this.
It's got to be a lot of frauds and i could be scammed by a lot of these platforms because I'm not familiar with these online paying things.
But these AI platforms or chatbots.
I think they are really helping these people to have a better chance or better way to actually get in touch with these a broader world of e-commerce.
We can only pick two or three highlights from these guidelines, but they touched upon other areas for sure.
They touched upon how to build specific kind of e-commerce platforms for different industries.
They talked about how century-old brands can find new life and new interpretation online.
But they also talk about how online recommendations, rating systems, review systems can better help us enjoy our 15-minute living circle or 20-minute or, for example, two hours living circle into a different city, and all these are in these kind of guidelines.
But at the end of the day, it's about the ecosystem that we want to build.
Nowadays, when you talk about shopping, it's already a combination of online shopping and offline shopping.
And it's already a combination of shopping for goods and shopping for services.
And it's all together.
By improving the ecosystem step by step, I believe we get to enjoy our lives more and make it more convenient and more fun.
And what Roundtable does is to... pick out the trends, share them with you.
And maybe we can also find the challenges we need to overcome and give our two cents, our humble opinions, in how to make the world a better place.
