Nestled across the arid Loess Plateau of Northwest China, Gansu’s rural communities have long relied on traditional agriculture and small-scale local trade to make a living. Today, a sweeping digital revolution is rewriting this narrative, turning remote villages into connected commercial hubs and breathing new life into local economies through the dual engines of e-commerce and cultural tourism.
Where farmers once spent early spring only tuning plows and preparing seedbeds, many now split their days between field work and digital content creation. Local producers are mastering new tools: adjusting ring lights for clearer livestream feeds, stabilizing smartphone gimbals to capture sweeping views of the plateau, and speaking to tens of thousands of online customers in their native regional dialects. Women in rural courtyards promote hand-brewed vinegar and crispy traditional fried snacks, while young entrepreneurs trek into rolling fields to stream the plateau’s changing seasons to a global audience.
One standout example of this shift is Tangqi Village, located in Qingyang City, where a government-backed assistance e-commerce studio has become a local community hub. Village officials have reinvented themselves as livestream hosts, using short-form videos and real-time streaming to showcase homegrown grains, fresh fruits and artisanal snacks to buyers across China. In just 10 days after launching, the studio recorded total sales exceeding 110,000 yuan ($16,016). Today, even 70-year-old villagers bring hand-harvested eggs and sun-dried goods to the studio, accessing national consumer markets without ever leaving their home community. Local data confirms that 135 households in Tangqi have already secured direct income gains from this digital e-commerce model.
Deep in the Gansu hills, tiny Zhuangzimao hamlet—home to only 22 households—has taken this digital transformation even further. The community established an ecological farm in 2020, and every household now participates in livestreamed commerce. Some farmers demonstrate traditional soy milk grinding and fresh tofu making in real time, while others showcase the process of brewing aromatic yellow rice wine or sun-drying chili peppers into fine powder. Last year alone, Zhuangzimao’s total sales of local specialties surpassed 3 million yuan, with more than half of the village’s households recording annual incomes above 100,000 yuan. Beyond online sales, the village has leveraged its authentic portrayal of rural life online to draw offline tourists.
Individual local entrepreneurs have also reaped the benefits of digital adoption. In Yangpo Village, Dingxi City, resident Zhou Jingang turned his small family courtyard into a standardized workshop for hand-made potato noodles, a beloved local staple. By building a following on mainstream social media and e-commerce platforms, he has scaled production to 1 metric ton of noodles per day, and now earns 100,000 yuan in annual net income.
Unlike early rural digital projects that focused solely on direct product sales, Gansu’s current rural development strategy leverages the global consumer demand for authentic rural nostalgia, integrating agriculture, cultural heritage and tourism into a single sustainable growth model. Zhuangzimao’s success, in particular, stems from its commitment to preserving the unpolished, genuine character of traditional village life: residents still plaster walls with local mud and pave courtyards with reclaimed old tiles, leaning into this authenticity to win over online audiences.
A typical livestream from the village captures this vibe perfectly: “It’s New Year! We’re using a big iron pot and a wood-fired stove to fry traditional dough snacks today,” a local villager says to her camera, surrounded by neighbors dressed in traditional red headscarves and floral aprons. This unscripted, unvarnished depiction of daily rural life has turned online engagement into tangible offline income. Once a remote, little-known hamlet, Zhuangzimao is now a national 3A-level tourist attraction. Last year, it hosted 150,000 domestic visitors, ranging from school study groups to landscape photography enthusiasts, who fill village courtyards to experience authentic home-cooked farm meals first-hand.
Provincial data underscores the scale of this transformation across Gansu. According to the provincial department of culture and tourism, the region’s rural tourism sector recorded 657 million visitor trips between 2021 and 2025—the 14th Five-Year Plan period—generating total revenue of 201.54 billion yuan.
Experts note that this shift marks more than just an adoption of new technology: it represents a fundamental change in rural development philosophy. “The core of this strategic support is cultivating a new generation of ‘new farmers’ who understand both the cultural resonance of rural life and modern digital business tools,” explained Mao Jinhuang, an economics professor at Lanzhou University. “This transition from selling agricultural products to selling rural scenery, authentic culture and immersive experiences is a profound shift in how rural communities approach development.”
To address gaps in digital skills among rural residents, the Gansu provincial government launched intensive targeted training programs in 2025, designed for entrepreneurs returning to rural areas after working in cities. The curricula cover practical skills including e-commerce platform operations, local brand building, and access to small business financing. As digital technology continues to reshape Gansu’s rural economic landscape, Professor Mao emphasizes that nurturing cross-skilled local talent to bridge traditional rural heritage and modern entrepreneurial tools remains the key to sustaining long-term, inclusive growth across the region.