adminCentury Village, an online C2C (customer-tocustomer) and B2C (business-to-customer) platform, was established by Lantian village in Fujian Province in 2008.
Villagers can post their sales and purchasing information, as well as their contacts, on this site. Payments can be made online or offline.
Village resident Xu Yingde started his online business by selling mango seeds over two years ago. Back then, he noticed a farm had posted a request on Century Village for mango seeds. Later, Xu replied and concluded his first online deal.
“Now that we have an online platform to exchange inform-ation, doing business becomes easier,” Xu Yingde said.
Century Village was founded by Pan Chunlai, a Lantian village official. He said he was inspired to develop ecommerce from his personal experiences. Once he wanted to buy a turkey but didn’t know where to get one.
After asking various people, he was surprised to find his neighbor had one for sale.
“How come I didn’t know that?” Pan said. “I realized our life would become much easier if we had an online platform where everybody could post their sales and purchasing information.”
For villagers who don’t have a computer, they can go to a socalled “information point” for help.
The “information points” are grocery stores scattered in the village.
After some training, store owners become information collectors of Century Village, helping other villagers post online. They charge a commission once a deal is complete. — Xinhua.
Online Reporter