As e-commerce blossoms, flower business takes root
Liu Youjuan processes fresh golden chrysanthemums in her factory in Macheng, Hubei province. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Internet creates new entrepreneurs, including people in poor rural areas
As the chrysanthemums blossom, so does Liu Youjuan's business－an undertaking whose seeds had not even been planted four years ago.
The soil in which those seeds eventually found root was e-commerce. In the past few years it has turned millions of Chinese who previously lacked business experience into successful entrepreneurs.
Liu, 39, has been growing and selling golden chrysanthemums in Fugang village of Tiemengang township in Macheng since 2015. Two years ago she struck pay dirt by selling golden chrysanthemum tea online.
"E-commerce is an incredibly cost-effective way of running a business," Liu said. "It has increased my income by enabling me to sell chrysanthemum products nationwide with little travel."
Millions of other e-commerce businesses throughout China are reaping the rewards of a model that links buyers and sellers directly, with billions of transactions and oceans of money each year.
It's part of the central government's innovation-centered strategy to eradicate poverty, and one that encourages poor families to help pull themselves out of poverty by using the latest technology.
The plan is paying huge dividends, not only improving the lives of millions of Chinese, but also helping to revitalize rural areas.
Liu was a migrant worker before quitting her job and returning to her hometown to take care of her ailing parents-in-law in 2015, a shift that left her with no income. About the time of her move she resolved to pull herself out of poverty by growing golden chrysanthemums in the village.
Her flower fields expanded to 4 hectares in 2016, and she developed a modest customer base. But she felt that she needed more. It was then that she enlisted the help of the local government.
"Government officials said that if I was interested in selling my flowers online they would give me the necessary training," Liu said.
To help set up the business, she obtained a loan of 50,000 yuan ($7,400) in September 2017.
Liu created her own brand of products made with flowers and set up online stores on Taobao and WeChat, as well as on a local e-commerce platform. She now provides products to four other online stores and plans to open a store on the social e-commerce platform Pinduoduo in April.
Her chrysanthemum products can now be found in homes and workplaces across the country.
Liu eventually shifted her focus from trading dry flowers to selling golden chrysanthemum tea.
"After two years exploring e-business, I understood how to improve products, and selling processed products increased the value of the flowers," she said.
Liu now has 20 hectares of chrysanthemum fields in Fugang and said sales exceeded 2 million yuan last year, with 80 percent online. Her growing income allowed her to buy a new house with an adjoining factory.
Knowing that others in her village were less fortunate, Liu provided jobs. She said she now has people from 15 poor households working for her, and each household earns additional income of 4,000 to 5,000 yuan annually.
"I was part of the impoverished group, and most of my employees are the elderly who were left behind in rural areas. So I feel it is my duty to help them," she said.
Xia Xigui, who has worked for Liu for two years, said she can earn more than 10,000 yuan a year.
"Liu is very capable, and her way of doing business is a very creative approach in rural areas," Xia said.
By the end of next year, China aims to have completed lifting 55 million rural people out of poverty and to have given half the country's poor villages the wherewithal to use e-commerce.
Macheng was listed as a national rural e-commerce pilot county in 2015. The local government has adopted policies promoting the new form of business, and continues to explore ways to reduce poverty through e-business.
It has built 414 e-commerce service stations in the 452 villages in the city, 159 of them in poor villages serving 6,335 impoverished households.
Officials said the city has provided e-commerce training for 16,000 people.
"The major task is to extend e-commerce thinking and consumption habits to rural areas and change the way they look at business," said Liu Hongli, director of the e-commerce office in Macheng.
譯文
隨著電子商務的蓬勃發展，鮮花生意生根發芽
通訊員：周瑾 | 中國日報 | 報道時間：2019-02-12 07:50
劉幼娟在她位于湖北麻城的工廠加工鮮金菊。[中國日報提供的照片]
互聯網創造了新的企業家，包括貧窮農村地區的人們
菊花開了，劉幼娟的事業也開了花，四年前還沒有播下種子。
這些種子最終在其中找到根的土壤是電子商務。在過去的幾年里，它已經讓數百萬以前缺乏商業經驗的中國人變成了成功的企業家。
今年39歲的劉自2015年以來--直在麻城鐵門崗鄉富崗村種植和銷售金菊花。兩年前，她在網上賣金菊花茶，賺了大錢。
“電子商務是一種難以置信的成本效益的經營方式，”劉說。“它使我能夠在全國范圍內銷售菊花產品而幾乎不需要旅行，從而增加了我的收入。
中國各地還有數以百萬計的其他電子商務企業正在從一種模式中獲得回報，這種模式每年將買家和賣家直接聯系在一起，每年有數十億筆交易和巨額資金。
這是中央政府以創新為中心的消除貧困戰略的一部分，它鼓勵貧困家庭利用最新技術幫助自己擺脫貧困。
該計劃正在產生巨大的收益，不僅改善了數百萬中國人的生活，而且還有助于振興農村地區。
劉女士在辭職前是一名農民工，2015年回到家鄉照顧生病的公婆，這一轉變讓她失去了收入。大約在她搬家的時候，她決定在村里種上金菊花，使自己擺脫貧困。
2016年，她的花田擴大到了4公頃，并建立了一個適度的客戶基礎。但她覺得她需要更多。就在那時，她得到了當地政府的幫助。
“麻城電商辦負責人劉宏利說，如果我有興趣在網上銷售我的鮮花，他們會給我必要的培訓，”劉說。
為了幫助創辦這家公司，她在2017年9月獲得了人民幣50,000元 (7400美元) 的貸款。
劉幼娟創造了自己的花卉品牌產品，并在淘寶和微信上開設了網店，還在當地的電子商務平臺_上開設了網店。她現在為其他四家在線商店提供產品，并計劃在4月份在社交電子商務平臺拼多多(Pinduoduo).上開一 家商店。
她的菊花產品現在可以在全國各地的家庭和工作場所找到。
劉幼娟最終將注意力從干花交易轉移到了賣金菊花茶。
她說:“在探索了兩年的電子商務之后，我明白了如何改進產品，銷售加工過的產品提高了花卉的價值。”
現在總共有20公頃菊花田，去年銷售額超過200萬元，其中80%在網上銷售。她不斷增長的收入使她得以在鄰近的工廠買了一幢新房子。
現在她的村子里的其他人沒那么幸運了，劉女士提供了工作。她說，她現在有來自15個貧困家庭的人為她工作，每個家庭每年的收入增加4萬5千美元。
“我的大多數員工是留守農村的老人，屬于貧困階層。所以覺得我的責任是幫助他們”她說。
在劉女士工作了兩年的夏喜貴(音譯)說，她一年可以掙10000元以上。
“劉非常能干，她做生意的方式非常有創意”夏說。
到明年年底，中國的目標是完成5500萬農村貧困人口的脫貧工作，并為全國半數貧困村提供了使用電子商務的必要資源。
麻城被列為2015年全國農村電子商務試點縣。地方政府已經采取了促進新型商業的政策，并繼續探索通過電子商務減少貧困的途徑。
已建成414個電子商務服務站的452個村，159個貧困村，服務于6335戶貧困家庭。
相關負責人說，該市為1.6萬人提供了電商培訓。
“主要任務是將電子商務的思維和消費習慣擴展到農村地區，并改變他們看待商業的方式，”麻城電子商務辦公室主任劉宏利說。
