Illustration: Liu Xidan/GT

Strawberries grown in Jiangxian, a county in North China's Shanxi Province, can now travel from the field to supermarket shelves in Dubai in around 48 hours, the People's Daily reported on Tuesday. What stands out is not the distance the strawberries travel, but the channel that makes the journey possible: online livestream is rapidly gaining momentum. 

As a micro-level episode, it offers a useful window into how China's digital economy is beginning to seep into trade flows through commercially driven experimentation.

A streamlined export chain now surrounds the strawberries. Once harvested and packed, they are inspected via a video link with a customs center, with sampling and quality checks completed in about half an hour. The fruit is then moved through a cold-chain system and flown straight to Dubai. In around 48 hours, it is on supermarket shelves, reportedly selling out quickly. 

Local media outlets reported in January that a 180-kilogram shipment of Jiangxian strawberries had been exported to the United Arab Emirates, selling out shortly after arrival. It was the first time strawberries from Shanxi had reached an overseas market, broadening the province's portfolio of exported fresh fruit to 15 varieties. 

According to the People's Daily, the export chain was set in motion in June 2025, when a manager at an e-commerce company discovered the strawberries through a livestream and opted to collaborate with Jiangxian. The case reflects a shift in how commercial ties are formed, with digital platforms increasingly complementing traditional trade fairs and intermediaries.

The development has delivered tangible benefits for local people. According to local customs authorities, Jiangxian's strawberry industry has increased the incomes of more than 800 households. Beyond factors such as cultivation and fruit quality, the performance of these strawberries highlights how digital trade channels can deliver tangible gains for rural communities. 

This story of Jiangxian strawberries is far from unique. Livestreaming has expanded rapidly across China in recent years, supported by a maturing digital economy that spans infrastructure development, the growth of e-commerce and online retail formats, and the increasing adoption of digital consumption habits among consumers. Together, these factors are shaping a fast-evolving digital commerce ecosystem, enabling goods and services to move more efficiently and giving producers more direct access to new markets.

China's digital infrastructure provides a strong foundation for this development. With more than 4.5 million 5G base stations, an internet penetration rate of nearly 80 percent, and the world's second-strongest computing power, the country's robust digital networks are supporting the rapid expansion of its digital economy. This growth is increasingly extending across multiple sectors, forming what some analysts describe as a "digital economy plus" model, in which traditional industries are enhanced through digital tools. Foreign trade is just one of the areas benefiting from this trend.

Digital technologies are facilitating imports and exports in a variety of ways, with Jiangxian's strawberries representing one small illustration. More broadly, business models such as cross-border e-commerce are developing at pace. According to the General Administration of Customs, China's cross-border e-commerce trade reached 2.75 trillion yuan ($398 billion) in 2025, up 69.7 percent compared with 2020. These figures underscore how digital platforms are enabling more direct and efficient trade.

The digitalization of trade, underpinned by technologies such as artificial intelligence, is giving rise to new commercial models, including the integration of livestreaming with cross-border e-commerce. By lowering transaction costs and reducing reliance on traditional intermediaries, these models are broadening participation in foreign trade, allowing regions that once sat at the margins to connect more directly with consumer markets.

A case in point: exports of Zhuoni County in Northwest China's Gansu Province rose from zero in 2021 to 10.22 million yuan in 2025. The number of e-commerce enterprises increased from 15 in 2020 to 49 in 2025, while 19 agricultural product operators were incubated and completed their digital transformation.

Taken together, these stories point to the expanding role of the digital economy in trade, alongside its broader influence on economic activity. Such developments are visible in China, but they are far from unique. Across economies, a shared question is how to accelerate digital development while better upgrading traditional industries.

Against this backdrop, there is scope for deeper cooperation between China and other economies. Chinese companies have accumulated practical experience in areas such as e-commerce and livestreaming. As some of these firms expand overseas, they can bring additional momentum to local economies.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn