“Sports + poverty relief” program launched in Tianjin

On October 17, China’s National Poverty Relief Day, the first women’s charity volleyball game between famous female volleyball players was held in Tianjin People’s Stadium, alongside live-streaming sessions aimed at boosting the sale of products from poor areas.

This charity volleyball game was the first of its kind in the country to combine professional sports with poverty alleviation, with live-streams held during the opening match to help sell products from Gansu province’s poor areas. It was a tentative effort to forge a mechanism to help reduce poverty through consumption. Through this game, the spirit of the Chinese Women's Volleyball Team was deeply integrated with collaboration on poverty eradication, and fans of the female volleyball players also became consumers. All the revenue generated by the game will be used for 'pairing-up' poverty alleviation programs between the eastern and western regions.

The game was played between Tianjin Bohai Bank Women's Volleyball Club and Shandong Rizhao Steel, and it was live-streamed to audiences. Alongside the intense game was a lively live-stream aimed at selling various specialties from Gansu province, such as honey, Chinese dates and rose wine, to name just a few.

After the game, coaches and players joined in the streaming to help sell the products. The cheerful studio was full of merry laughter, and the screen showed sales rocketing up.

“In an e-commerce festival featuring collaboration on poverty alleviation between the eastern and western regions organized by the Hexi district, we invited female volleyball stars to host a live-streaming event alongside farmers from Gansu, which attracted about 3.07 million views and generated roughly 2.38 million yuan ($354567.81) in sales revenue,” said Wang Ying, head of Hexi district’s commerce bureau. “This new concept which combines professional sports with charity poverty alleviation aims to further promote the consumption of products from poor areas to contribute to eliminating poverty,” Wang added.

By 23:10 on October 17, the live-streaming activity which used the “sports + poverty relief” model had lasted four hours, garnered 5.21 million views and grossed 6.11 million yuan in sales revenue.