E-commerce revives China's classic brands

Wearing costumes to look like ancient Chinese, two live-streaming artistes, armed with a microphone headset each, chat with fans in a live sales promotion on Tmall, a Chinese online marketplace.

They are not peddling stuff like cosmetics, clothes, jewelry or some fashionable brand though. Instead, they promote a huge preserved pork leg.

That's what e-shopping plazas such as Tmall are doing these days: they help promote China's classic brands such as Jinhua Ham, a pork producer whose history dates back to Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD).