[Commentary] On May 12, the State Council Office held a policy briefing to introduce the implementation of major policy measures in 2019. Wang Bingnan, vice minister of commerce at the briefing, introduced that in recent years, China's rural e-commerce has developed rapidly and has achieved remarkable results.

　　[Same period] Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Bingnan

　　Rural online retail sales increased from 180 billion yuan (RMB) in 2014 to 1.7 trillion yuan in 2019, and the overall scale expanded by 8.4 times. In 2019, the nationwide online sales of agricultural products reached 397.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27%, driving more than 3 million poor farmers to increase their income. Rural e-commerce has attracted a large number of migrant workers, college students, and retired soldiers to return home and start businesses. By the end of last year (2019), there were 13.84 million rural online merchants in the country, and the number of rural netizens exceeded 250 million. Online shopping has become the normal life of farmers.

　　[Commentary] Wang Bingnan said that in the next step, the Ministry of Commerce, together with the Ministry of Finance and other relevant departments, will use "upgrading e-commerce into the countryside" as the general starting point to strengthen the construction of rural circulation infrastructure, promote the development of township commerce, and smooth the two-way circulation channel between urban and rural areas.

　　[Same period] Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Bingnan

　　One is to further broaden the channels for agricultural products to enter the city, build a county-level e-commerce industry cluster, and improve e-commerce supporting services. The second is to further optimize the network of industrial products going to the countryside and build a modern rural distribution network that integrates online and offline. The third is to improve the county's rural three-tier logistics common distribution system, carrying consumer goods and agricultural materials to the countryside and agricultural products into the city for two-way distribution. Fourth, we must increase training for migrant workers returning to their hometowns, college students, and military personnel returning to their hometowns to build a rural e-commerce team.

　　[Commentary] At the meeting, a reporter asked about the construction of China's old-age service system. Zhao Chenxin, deputy secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the National Development and Reform Commission's central budget has increased investment in supporting the construction of the old-age service system year by year. In total, more than 12 billion yuan has been arranged.

　　[Same period] Zhao Chenxin, Deputy Secretary General of National Development and Reform Commission

　　The implementation of a special action such as the linkage of inclusive old-age city enterprises has provided more and more inclusive old-age care services for middle- and low-income seniors. As of the end of last year (2019), the number of elderly care service beds in China had exceeded 7.61 million, and there were more than 34,000 old-age care institutions, of which social forces accounted for more than 50%. At the same time, emerging industries such as the Internet, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and elderly care services are also rapidly integrating and developing. A large number of institutions are also strategically deploying in a number of subdivided areas such as institutional elder care community elder care and home elder care. And their families, to bring more choices in elderly care services and better service experience.

　　[Commentary] Zhao Chenxin said that while solving the problem of "one bed is hard to find" in the elderly care service, the state has also issued a number of policies to support the development of the elderly care service industry. Various localities have also formulated measures to meet the actual needs of the localities. The business environment is gradually improving.

　　Liu Xuanting reports from Beijing

Editor in charge: [Wang Kai]