E-commerce firm steps in to boost intangible cultural heritage

Vip.com, the third-largest e-commerce player in China, announced a plan to hold a charity sale for intangible cultural heritage products on February 4, the start of spring in the traditional Chinese lunar calendar.

All revenue from the charity sale will be used to help intangible cultural heritage craftsmen from poor areas, said Huang Hongying, vice-president of online retailer, in Beijing on Tuesday.

The sale is part of the poverty alleviation program launched by vip.com one year ago.

With the idea of "building a new business model to boost China's intangible cultural heritage and lift people out of poverty", vip.com vowed to make full use of its e-commerce platform to help inherit the intangible cultural heritage and bring the intangible cultural heritage closer to lives of ordinary people.

"Through our e-commerce poverty alleviation channel VIP Love Workshop, vip.com hopes to make the intangible cultural heritage more accessible to modern lives, business-friendly and sustainable," said Huang.

"With our 10-year experience in information technology and online retail operations, we will spare no efforts to promote the transformation and upgrading of the industry chain of the intangible cultural heritage and make it show new charm in people's lives," Huang added.

VIP Love Workshop organized intangible cultural heritage craftsmen from poverty-stricken areas, most of whom were mothers, to join into local cooperatives. The cooperative offered skill training and invited well-known designers to recreate the intangible cultural heritage into fashion and household products.

"When the goods produced by intangible cultural heritage craftsmen from poor areas are sold, they can get about 30 to 60 percent of the sales revenue, which is a quite good income for them," said Huang.

"Vip.com plans to donate 10 cooperatives this year and our goal is to cover all provinces in the next three to five years," Huang added.

Vip.com also announced strategic cooperation with China Women's Development Foundation, Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology and China Social Entrepreneur Foundation to build a new economic ecosystem for poverty alleviation of intangible cultural heritage craftsmen.