On the morning of September 19, as one of the series of events of golden autumn consumption season of Chinese Farmers’ Harvest Festival sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the fourth September 19 Postal E-commerce Festival held by China Post is unveiled in Beijing. The festival highlights the theme of “China Post facilitating poverty alleviation and benefiting rural households” and strives to develop a rural e-commerce ecosystem of China Post.

Present at the launch ceremony are Ou Qingping, Deputy Director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, Dai Yingjun, Deputy Director of the State Post Bureau, Zhao Chunjiang, Director of the National Engineering Research Center for Information Technology in Agriculture, Zhao Tieqiao, Inspector of the Department of Rural Cooperative Economy of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Li Gang, Deputy Director of the Department of Circulation Industry Development of the Ministry of Commerce, Tu Gang, Deputy Director of the Department of Universal Postal Service of the State Post Bureau, Liu Aili, Chairman of China Post Group Corporation Limited (hereinafter referred to as China Post Group), Zhang Jinliang, President of China Post Group, Kang Ning and Guo Xinshuang, Vice Presidents of China Post Group, and heads from other related authorities. Liu Aili, Ou Qingping and Zhao Tieqiao address the ceremony respectively.

Liu Aili said that in terms of developing rural e-commerce, there are requirements from the central government, markets in rural areas, demands from the farmers and capabilities of China Post. As the "national team" of the postal industry, China Post must take the initiative to implement the important instruction General Secretary Xi Jinping made during his inspection in Zhashui County of Shaanxi Province, take concrete actions and robust measures to win the battle of targeted poverty alleviation and facilitate the high-quality development of rural e-commerce, and eventually achieve practical effects that benefit farmers

Liu Aili also pointed out that for many years, China Post has conscientiously implemented the guidance of the central government on poverty alleviation, established Ule specialty shopping malls for 832 national-level poverty-stricken counties, carried out 3,116 rural e-commerce projects, fostered an ecosystem of poverty alleviation through e-commerce integrating businesses, governments, cooperatives and poverty-stricken households. Shangzhou District and Luonan County of Shangluo City, Shaanxi Province—the fixed-point poverty alleviation areas of China Post Group have achieved the goal of poverty alleviation one year ahead of schedule. More than 4000 poverty alleviation points supported by all postal enterprises have accelerated the pace of poverty alleviation. A total of 163.7 billion yuan (about $24 billion) of targeted poverty alleviation loans have been issued, which has vigorously boosted the economic development in poverty-stricken areas like the “three regions and three prefectures (The “three regions” refers to Tibet, four prefectures of southern Xinjiang—Hotan, Aksu, Kashi, and the Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture of Kizilsu, and the areas of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, and Qinghai provinces with large Tibetan populations; the “three prefectures” are Liangshan in Sichuan, Nujiang in Yunnan, and Linxia in Gansu.)”, and has been fully acknowledged by the government and widely praised by all sections of society.

Ou Qingping said that since the battle of poverty alleviation, China Post, based on its industrial advantages of nationwide postal outlets, has taken various measures to broaden the sales channels of featured agricultural products in poverty-stricken areas. It has formulated a three-year plan for poverty alleviation through e-commerce, defined its development mode, incubated a number of well-known poverty alleviation brands, such as “Grandma Liao’s Salted Duck Eggs” in Jiangxi Province and “Shibadong Kiwifruits” in Hunan Province, and cumulatively driven the consumption of poverty alleviation products for 2.5 billion yuan (about $366.5 million), having effectively solved the sales problem of local specialties and farm produce in some poverty-stricken areas.

Zhao Tieqiao said that China Post always attaches equal importance to economic, political and social responsibilities, makes full use of its urban and rural network resources and vigorously promotes poverty alleviation through e-commerce. By holding "September 19 Postal E-commerce Festival" for four consecutive years, it has smoothed the two-way circulation channels of selling industrial products to the countryside and agricultural products to the cities, thereby making continuous contributions to winning the battle of poverty alleviation and implementing the strategy of rural revitalization.

At the launch ceremony, Ou Qingping and Zhang Jinliang jointly issued the brands of “China Post Farm Produce”. Zhang Jinliang conferred signboards to the six representatives from the bases of postal farm produce, such as Qixia Apple Base, Hanyuan Cherry Base and so on. Dai Yingjun and Guo Xinshuang jointly unveiled the theme postcard Bumper Harvest. For further cooperation, Kang Ning, on behalf of China Post, exchanged cooperation agreements with nine partners, including State Grid Electronic Commerce Co. Ltd., China Good Agri-products Development & Service Association, Missfresh, Suning, Pinduoduo, New Hope Group, China Resources Beer (Holdings) Company Limited, Budweiser Brewing Company and Want Want Group.

At the launch ceremony, a live video link shows that the September 19 Postal E-commerce Festival not only focuses on online stores, but also has a variety of activities in offline stores.

It is reported that China Post Group has formulated and issued the three-year plan for poverty alleviation through e-commerce (2018-2020), which aims to establish an online shopping mall for every national-level poverty-stricken county, cultivate 1000 leading anti-poverty items with over 10,000 orders of sales, and train 10,000 poverty alleviation experts. Up to now, these objectives have been overfulfilled.