His business has gotten a boost from livestreaming since July 2019, when he did his first broadcast.

"I was so nervous that I couldn't find the camera. A lecturer from the project told me how to look at the camera and present my noodles persuasively," Chen says.

The first attempt helped him sell more than 1,000 kilograms of noodles in less than 20 minutes, bringing in 8,000 yuan.

Now, Chen is quite skilled at doing livestreams.

He sold over 5 million yuan worth of noodles last year. And many villagers in Doumulong are involved in his handmade noodle business.

The COVID-19 epidemic hindered sales of such agricultural products as oranges in the first half of 2020. But Quzhou's livestreamers sold over 200,000 kilograms of oranges within two hours through livestreams, bringing wealth to the village despite the market downturn.

Zhejiang, an e-commerce hub in China, started a campaign on May 8 to cultivate a group of farmer anchors to advance rural revitalization across the province.

Initiated by the province's commerce department and Zhejiang-based e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, the campaign will help farmers use internet tools to increase incomes and improve livelihoods.

In the future, introducing products in front of cameras will be part of farmers' ordinary work.

Wu Fei, a professor at Zhejiang University's College of Media and International Culture, says livestreaming is more expressive and interactive than other communication approaches in the internet era.

It enables more people to become aware of small and medium-sized enterprises and, to some extent, saves on business-operation costs.

Contact the writers through [email protected]

Qin Jirong contributed to the story.