Alibaba Group announces activities for second Ali Chinese New Year Shopping Festival

Alibaba Group pulls out all the stops for the largest Chinese festival on the calendar, due to start January 28. The company has kicked off its second Ali Chinese New Year Shopping Festival (阿里年货节) with a lineup of activities that not only encourage trade between urban and rural areas, but more importantly to help send a message of warmth and hope to rural families who are separated because of work and other economic reasons.

Using its strengths in marketplace, big data and logistics, Alibaba will again connect rural communities with city dwellers so the latter can stock up on Spring Festival supplies while giving rural economies a lift. Quality products from all over the world will also be presented to Chinese consumers.

Sun Lijun, VP, Alibaba Group, who oversees the company’s rural business division, said, “Alibaba strives to create closer connections between urban and rural areas in China, narrowing the wealth gap and improving the living standard of those who live in villages. Having launched Rural Taobao in 2014, we are continuing to do more than just promoting online trade – we are striving to serve the real needs of village dwellers by also making health services, entrepreneurial support, public welfare services and more available to them.”

Highlights of this year’s festival include:

· Promotion of rural-urban trade: Tmall.com’s fresh food channel will introduce fresh fruit and meat produce from abroad – such as cherries from Australia and orange roughies from New Zealand – to Chinese consumers. At the same time, poultry and meat from the countryside – including chicken from Qingyuan County, Guangdong Province, beef from the Horqin Grassland of Inner Mongolia, organic mutton from licorice-fed lambs in Gansu Province, yak meat from Aba of Sichuan-Tibet Plateau, and mutton from Yanchi County of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region – will be brought to dining tables in the cities.

· Live broadcasts about rural produce: To give urban consumers peace of mind about rural produce, 12 village celebrities will conduct live broadcasts via Tmall and Taobao mobile apps and show urban consumers how some of the produce is harvested and processed before it ends up on the dining table.

· Rural family reunion photo project: For rural children whose parents have gone to cities to find work, Chinese New Year is often the only time they get to see their parents. For communities where a family photo is often considered a luxury, Rural Taobao’s local services booking platform is mobilising its merchants to give away family portrait packages to 10,000 families across 20 counties as a first step to bring families closer together.

· Rural employment platform: A one-stop village employment platform will be launched by Rural Taobao in January to provide job information for workers returning to their home villages for the Chinese New Year holidays. Through the project, it is hoped that some of them will be able to find work closer to home. As a part of the project, Rural Taobao representatives will assist job seekers in completing their résumés and entering their information on the platform.

· New Year Eve’s banquet: For the elderly and children who are left behind in villages, Rural Taobao is organising a Chinese New Year’s Eve banquet for 6,000 tables of guests. New Year Eve is traditionally a time of togetherness when the entire family gathers to eat dinner.