Introduction: As an inland province in northwest China, Gansu lags behind many other parts of the country in terms of economic development. In recent years, with the guidance and incentives provided by the provincial government, Gansu has made the most of the opportunities for the growth of rural e-commerce and achieved good results in poverty alleviation.

In order to better implement the rules and regulations formulated by the State Council and relevant ministries and commissions, and to promote the development of rural e-commerce in Gansu, the provincial igovernment issued this document in 2016, which shall remain effective for five years.

http://www.gansu.gov.cn/art/c103795/c103895/c103912/201910/211010.shtml

I. Goals

- 2016: Cultivate a number of rural e-commerce demonstration counties (townships or villages), pace-setting enterprises, and excellent online stores that serve as models in the province; have at lest two e-commerce demonstration counties in each city or prefecture; have e-commerce service centers built in all poverty-stricken counties and e-commerce service stations (points) built in 30 percent of the townships (villages); see to it 90 percent of the administrative villages have broadband access; and ensure the full coverage of e-commerce training.

- 2017: Have e-commerce service stations (points) built in over 70 percent of the townships (villages) across the province, with the transaction volume increasing 20 percent; see to it more than 80 percent of the administrative villages have access to optical fiber communications, and more than 95 percent have broadband access; have at least one person well-trained in e-commerce applications and information in each village; and see to it express delivery facilities are built at town and township level, and services are available at village level.

— 2018－2020: Achieve an annual increase of 30 percent in e-commerce transaction volume, and achieve universal access to e-commerce applications in rural areas.

Ⅱ. Priorities

(1) Cultivate the entities in the rural e-commerce market. Efforts should be made to develop rural e-commerce platforms with local and ethnic characteristics, and to support prestigious domestic platforms with local settlement features to participate in the development of e-commerce in rural areas. Cooperation between e-commerce, logistics, trade, finance, supply and marketing, postal services, express delivery and other sectors needs to be strengthened to promote the development of rural e-commerce. Young people, women and other groups need to be engaged in the development of rural e-commerce, which will help increase the number of local e-commerce operators. Experienced professionals and managers are encouraged to contribute to e-commerce in rural areas.

(2) Improve the application of e-commerce in agriculture and in rural areas. Efforts need to be made to strengthen the integrated development of the Internet, agriculture and rural areas, and apply Internet technology in agricultural production, processing, and circulation. Agricultural products, folk products, rural tourism and other markets need to be better explored to promote the sale of industrial consumer goods and agricultural producer goods in the rural areas,and in the meantime expand the distribution channels for agricultural products in the cities. E-commerce big data needs to be better exploited to inform the decisions on agricultural production and promote a shift in the pattern of agricultural development. The construction of county-level e-commerce service centers, township-level stations, and village-level points, as well as the e-commerce industrial park needs to gather pace. A center incorporating such features as online store operations, entrepreneurial services, training and incubation needs to be built, and continuous efforts are required to improve services and to promote the development of rural e-commerce. The provincial project concerning demonstration counties (townships or villages) and pace-setting enterprises needs to be advanced and their exemplary roles need to be highlighted. According to the plan of promoting e-commerce for targeted poverty alleviation, the two need to be closely integrated. Depending on the industrial and other features of poverty-stricken counties, the priorities will be defined to enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of e-commerce for poverty alleviation.

(3) Improve the environment for rural e-commerce development. Efforts need to be made to improve rural infrastructure, increase the broadband access, and raise the Internet speed to four megabits per second(Mbps). Rural roads and infrastructure need to be improved to build logistics capabilities. Training needs to be strengthened to provide qualified e-commerce personnel. Further research needs to be conducted in such areas as agricultural product standardization, test and inspection, and the traceability system, and sound supervision measures need to be taken to ensure the safety of online agricultural product supply.