A Chinese e-commerce platform that only sells products from 832 counties that have been recently lifted out of poverty saw its total sales hit nearly 50 billion yuan (about 6.8 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of 2024, according to its operator, the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives.
The platform, fupin832.com, was launched on Jan 1, 2020 to sell officially recognized poverty relief products from the once-impoverished counties.
The platform, which is mainly used for government procurement, has introduced supportive measures such as creating preferred brands and building sales service systems to help stabilize the sales of quality products in the areas that have been lifted out of poverty and drive industrial development there.
"The sales on the platform enable us to nurture and strengthen our own industrial chain," said Wang Jianjun, manager in charge of the selection of products for the platform.
More than 30,000 suppliers from the 832 counties have joined the platform with over 350,000 famous, high-quality local specialties on sale, attracting 680,000 registered purchasing partners. Over 1.8 million individuals also shop on the platform.
Sales on Chinese poverty-relief e-commerce platform hit 50 bln yuan
The concept of eco-friendly burials -- ways of laying loved ones to rest that reduce environmental impact -- has grown in popularity among the Chinese people, especially over the past five years.
In China, eco-friendly burials comprise forms such as lawn burials, flowerbed burials as well as tree burials, which require minimal land. Sea burials and biodegradable urn burials that do not take up any land are also popular options.
Analysts believe eco-friendly burials will help to alleviate the strain on land resources, contribute to environmental protection, and also fulfill people's emotional needs for remembering their departed loved ones. The Ministry of Civil Affairs said in 2024, there were 194,700 ecological burials of ashes across the country, up 67 percent from 2019. Among them, 53,500 were sea burials, an increase of 26 percent over 2019, and 141,200 tree burials, an increase of 90 percent over 2019. Today, 28 provinces in China offer rewards and subsidies to families who choose eco-burials.
"More and more people begin to accept land-saving ecological burial methods. China's land-saving ecological burial methods such as sea burials and tree burials have been on the rise every year. China's land-saving ecological burial facilities have become more full-fledged as local governments have increased their efforts to build these facilities," said Liu Tao, director of the Department of Social Affairs under the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
April 4 marked this year's Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, a traditional Chinese festival for people to pay tribute to the deceased and to worship their ancestors.
During the period around this festival, people often visit graveyards, where they traditionally pay tribute to the dead by offering food and burning incense and paper money.
In recent years, with the support from the government, many have turned to greener practices, such as offering flowers and lighting electric candles. During this year's three-day Qingming Festival holiday from Friday to Sunday, people across China made nearly 54.34 million trips to burial sites, up 14.3 percent from last year.
Eco-friendly burials take root among Chinese people
