Livestream festival to boost online economy
Shared studios for wanghongs, or online celebrities, to rent and host livestreams at the IQ-Valley in Fengxian District.
A livestream festival with over 100 wanghongs, or online celebrities, from home and abroad, will be held in Fengxian District next week.
The COVID-19 outbreak led to many new economic models, especially online. Local companies and government officials have embraced livestreams to sell products and services to the captive audience created by the pandemic.
The festival is expected to drive that trend and help businesses greatly affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
The event is being held next Wednesday and Thursday at the Oriental Beauty Valley, a business hub in the city's southern outskirts specializing in cosmetics, bio-medicine and the health sector.
Celebrities, opinion-makers, business executives and even district officials will use their expertise to attract a large online audience.
Around 20 online celebrities from overseas will also take part in the event, including Thomas Derksen, known as Afu, a German famous for sharing his travel and life experience on Chinese social media.
Over 100 products of 60 brands, including many time-honored local cosmetic and food products, will be promoted on livestreams between 3pm and 10pm next Wednesday.
Zhuang Mudi, Fengxian’s Party Secretary, will make his livestream debut to help sell White Rabbit candy for Shanghai Guanshengyuan Food based at the valley.
Guo Fang, the district's director, and other officials, will offer other traditional products, such as Dingfeng, a time-honored brand in Fengxian making soy sauce and fermented bean curd in the traditional way, and Jala Group, the owner of cosmetic brands.
Fengxian has created over 30 studios suitable for livestreams at a brand-new innovation park. They can be leased for 500 yuan (US$70) a day.
Food carts (top) and an artist's rendition of the nightlife food street at IQ-Valley in Fengxian District.
"The largest scale online promotion event in Fengxian is expected to support the small and medium size enterprises who are grappling with the sluggish business amid the COVID-19 pandemic," said an official with the district.
Fengxian aims to develop the IQ-Valley innovation park on 3358 Pingzhuang Road W. into a highland for the wanghong economy in Shanghai and Yangtze River Delta region. The park covering 175,000 square meters features a full coverage of 5G signal and a smart office building management system.
Meanwhile, Fengxian plans to launch the district's first nightlife food street at the IQ-Valley on the livestream festival. A three-month food festival will be held along the street with 35 food carts selling authentic local rural flavors and famous cuisines from across the world.
Shanghai is reviving its nightlife after shutting down noisy late-night bars and eateries over the past few years in response to residents’ complaints. The revival is part of the city’s aim of becoming an international shopping destination.
The nightlife food street in Fengxian will run between 11am and 11pm. Street performances, fashion shows and exhibitions about local heritage skills will be held at the night market. A shuttle bus will take residents from the nearby Nanqiao Town to the site every day.
The beauty valley has attracted some 100 cosmetics companies, including American brand Nu Skin and South Korea’s Cosmax, as well as local brands. It accounts for more than 40 percent of the total value of the city's cosmetics industry.
The district government expects the value of cosmetic and health products manufactured in the valley to reach 100 billion yuan (US$14.08 billion) by 2025.
