China speeds up training of e-commerce live-streaming talents
People's Daily
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China is accelerating the training of talents for e-commerce live-streaming, as the booming industry faces a severe shortage of professionals.

Online salespeople from an e-commerce company advertise wild peaches through online streaming in Wufang village, Daoxian county, central China’s Hunan province, May 27. (Photo: Jiang Keqing/People’s Daily)

Market demand for e-commerce live-streaming talents has increased rapidly. In just one month after the 2020 Chinese Lunar New Year, recruiting for live-streaming job positions surged more than 132 percent year on year, according to a recent survey by China's leading recruitment company Zhilian Zhaopin.

To meet this growing need, local governments have adopted measures to train professionals in the industry.

Ji'nan in east China's Shandong province recently issued a plan to boost the development of the e-commerce and live-streaming economy. Under the plan, the city will build over 5,000 live-streaming studios, train over 10,000 high-performing livestream hosts, and turn the city into a base for the live-streaming economy.

Yiwu in east China's Zhejiang province recently issued the province’s first batch of professional qualification certificates for e-commerce live-streaming to 19 live-streamers. The city has 10 large live-streaming agencies and over 2,000 high-performing live-streamers, with more than 500,000 people engaged in e-commerce.

In March, Guangzhou in south China's Guangdong province rolled out 16 measures aimed at turning the city into an e-commerce live-streaming hub. Meanwhile, the city established China's first domestic e-commerce live-streaming research institute to form a talent training system for the sector and provide talents with training and career planning.

Industry insiders pointed out that professionals are needed for the entire chain of the e-commerce live-streaming sector. Professional, systematic guidance for live-streamers will also promote the healthy, orderly development of the booming industry. To cultivate professionals in the sector, some Chinese universities and colleges have begun establishing e-commerce live-streaming schools or offering courses in this field.

The Yangzhou Polytechnic Institute in Yangzhou, east China's Jiangsu province, established a school of e-commerce live-streaming in December 2019, the first of its kind in China. Working with over 10 brands, the institute has built 47 broadcasting studios so that students can improve and sharpen their abilities.

The Yiwu Industrial and Commercial College began offering courses on live-streaming early in 2017. The college also established three studios with enterprises teaching students specific e-commerce skills, including how to make short videos and write scripts, as well as live-streaming skills.

Experts from the Ministry of Education said courses on e-commerce live-streaming should be designed for all students taking e-commerce majors in the future.