"It is better to weave a flower basket at home and open a Taobao store than to migrate elsewhere for work." This is a common saying by villagers in Wantou village in Boxing county of Binzhou, Shandong province.

Exquisite wickerwork products are seen at a villager's home in Wantou village. [Photo/dzwww.com]

By leveraging traditional wicker-making handicrafts and the fast-growing e-commerce industry in China, the village has become one of the earliest "Taobao villages" in China and the "e-commerce demonstration village" in Shandong province.

According to the AliResearch Institute at Alibaba Group, a Taobao village must meet these three requirements: the business operation is located in a village, annual e-commercial sales must be at least 10 million yuan ($1.57 million) and the number of active online stores must be more than 100, or at least 10 percent of a village's households that are doing business online.

Official statistics show that Wantou village has registered more than 900 online shops on Taobao, Tmall, Pinduoduo and other e-commerce platforms. The village has more than 30 service outlets of express delivery companies. In 2020, the village's transaction volume of wickerwork reached 520 million yuan.

A woman produces a wickerwork at home in Wantou village. [Photo/dzwww.com]

Liu Zimei, 65, has been making wickerwork since she was 12. "Thanks to the e-commerce platform, I don't need to worry about selling the products. There are also e-commerce professionals to help us with the sales," said Liu.

The village is now promoting the construction of a wickerwork-making industrial park, which will integrate tourism, product display, e-commerce offices, smart logistics, talent apartment and other functions, to fuel the development of the local wickerwork industry.

"We will launch more measures and policy to support the e-commerce platforms, expand logistics services, promote wickerwork-making talent training, so as to build our wickerwork brand," said An Zhiqing, Party chief of Wantou village.

Young people learn to make wickerwork in Wantou village. [Photo/dzwww.com]