A culture and tourism authority promoted local agricultural products through livestreams on short video app Tencent Weishi to help farmers during the epidemic in Weishan county, Jining, Shandong province.

Chu Xin, director of the Weishan county culture and tourism bureau, promoted salted duck eggs, lotus leaf tea, lotus leaf cakes and other specialties in the online video.

Chu said that products made by local time-honored brand "Weishan Lake" have been overstocked due to travel restrictions and a significant drop in the number of visitors due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

Chu Xin, director of Weishan county culture and tourism bureau, promotes local specialties during a live stream. [Photo/iqilu.com]

E-commerce has become the most common way for consumers to buy agricultural products, said Chu.

The Shandong Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shandong Department of Science and Technology, the Shandong Department of Commerce and other departments have teamed with Tencent Weishi and other online platforms to launch exclusive services on their apps to help Shandong farmers sell agricultural products nationwide.

The Weishan county culture and tourism bureau has produced a short video about local specialties and released it on Tencent Weishi. Dozens of orders were received on the night the video was released.

"I was worried about our ability to sell the products as the ongoing epidemic is still affecting the tourism market," said An Qi, a local tourism goods producer.

"The local government and the e-commerce services have solved my immediate worries."

"In 2020, China will put an end to thousands of years of absolute poverty. We need to work harder to secure victory in the battle against poverty. The e-commerce platforms and livestreams have offered us an innovative and effective solution to help farmers increase their sales and income," said Chu.