At the intelligent storage base located in the Heihe area of the Heilongjiang Free Trade Zone, workers are inspecting imported goods. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Kaixin
Xinhua News Agency, Harbin, September 4 (Reporters Liu Heyao, Xu Kaixin, Jiang Youlin) "I am holding Russian imported chocolate, the taste is sweet and strong..." At the cross-border e-commerce live broadcast base in the Heihe area of the Heilongjiang Free Trade Zone, a staff member is live streaming goods through the network platform, and the shelves behind her are placed with various Russian imported goods.
Heihe is a border city between China and Russia, just across the river from the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk. All along, Heihe City and Russia have maintained close cooperation in the fields of economy, trade and humanities. During the COVID-19 epidemic, more and more consumers are accustomed to online shopping, and cross-border e-commerce for Russia is becoming more and more popular in the city.
"The base was established last year and currently has 35 live broadcast rooms." Zhan Yucheng, head of the daily operation of the live broadcast base, said that the completion of the base has positive significance for the development of heihe cross-border e-commerce under the epidemic.
Based on years of experience in cross-border e-commerce with Russia, Heihe City has now built a large-scale and functional cross-border e-commerce industrial park. In 2020, Heihe City was approved as a national cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone.
In recent years, Heihe City has continuously innovated the development mode of cross-border e-commerce, created an independent e-commerce platform, and adopted a cross-border logistics multi-warehouse linkage data integration model to improve the efficiency of logistics transit, reduce the logistics cost of enterprises, and optimize the consumer shopping experience.
"Through this model, the goods can reach the consumer in a very short time." Zhong Huanyu, deputy director of the Foreign Trade and Cooperation Center of the Commerce Bureau of the Heihe Area of the Heilongjiang Free Trade Zone, said that from January to June this year, the cross-border e-commerce transaction volume of the Heihe Free Trade Area reached 640 million yuan, an increase of 17% year-on-year.
At the same time, including telemedicine and distance education, Heilongjiang Province's service trade with Russia has developed rapidly during the epidemic.
Zhao Jing, deputy director of the National Traditional Chinese Medicine Service Export Base of Suifenhe People's Hospital, always carries her mobile phone with her in order to answer questions online for Russian patients in a timely manner. "During the pandemic, I received questions from Russian patients on my mobile phone app almost every day." She said.
Suifenhe City is located in the southeast of Heilongjiang Province, close to Vladivostok and other Russian Far Eastern cities, and railways and roads are connected to Russia. As one of the first batch of national traditional Chinese medicine service export bases, Suifenhe People's Hospital has been engaged in foreign medical tourism work since 2013, including health examination management, trade in traditional Chinese medicine services, and traditional Chinese medicine culture.
"Many Russians are very interested in TCM health care." Zhao Jing told reporters that after the outbreak of the epidemic, the base adopted the "Internet + medical" model, and remotely saw patients through website online Q&A, video connection and other means.
"In addition, we also teach Russians Chinese fitness methods such as Five Birds Play and BaduanJin online to help them strengthen their bodies and understand Chinese culture." Zhao Jing said.
At the Suifenhe People's Hospital National Traditional Chinese Medicine Service Export Base, Zhao Jing remotely sees patients. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Heyao
According to preliminary statistics, during the epidemic period, the National Traditional Chinese Medicine Service Export Base of Suifenhe People's Hospital has served more than 1,500 Russian patients online.
"For students of different grades, different training models should be adopted..." At Harbin Baihan Education Technology Co., Ltd., JinPeng is discussing the training points with several Russian colleagues through video software.
Jin Peng, 29, is a Russian-language graduate from Harbin Normal University. After graduation, he developed his profession into a career and set up a company to provide Services such as Russian language education, study abroad agencies in Russia, and career planning for Russian-speaking university students.
Jin Peng said that since the epidemic, the company's online business has maintained steady development, providing course materials to students in the form of video, audio, electronic documents, etc. through the network platform, and opening online live teaching, so that students can obtain knowledge without leaving home.
Study abroad agency in Russia is one of the company's main businesses. Jin Peng said that since 2020, the company has provided study abroad services for more than 200 people, which is largely due to the achievements of digital technology.
"The internet has brought us a lot of convenience. During the epidemic period, the company maintained business contacts with many Russian universities and negotiated study abroad through various online means. Jin Peng said that the company also pays attention to the dynamics of students studying in Russia in real time through mobile phone software and provides them with necessary help.
In addition, the company has also built a service platform for Russia on a number of web applications to provide personalized services for individuals and institutional groups. "In the future, we plan to organize cross-cultural online exchange activities such as the 'Cloud China-Russia Literature and Song Festival', use the Internet, big data and other technologies to improve service quality and expand business with Russia." Jin Peng said.
Song Kui, president of the Heilongjiang Contemporary Sino-Russian Regional Economic Research Institute, believes that new technologies such as "Internet +", big data, and 5G have provided important support for Heilongjiang's development of service trade with Russia. In the future, digital technology will promote the development of Heilongjiang's service trade with Russia in a more convenient and efficient direction.