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| The Shining Promise and Dashed Dreams of China’s Live Shopping Craze | The Shining Promise and Dashed Dreams of China’s Live Shopping Craze |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| The yurt stood in the middle of a sweeping northern Chinese grassland, beneath a cloudless sky. A reedy folk tune played. Nearby, sheep grazed. | The yurt stood in the middle of a sweeping northern Chinese grassland, beneath a cloudless sky. A reedy folk tune played. Nearby, sheep grazed. |
| Suddenly the livestream, which had been showing the idyllic vista, cut to a man in his 30s, wearing a Mongolian hat with a pointed golden spire. “Welcome, brothers and sisters!” he announced from his perch atop a platform bed. “How’s the signal? I set up Wi-Fi in my yurt.” He held up a bag of beef jerky, branded with a cartoon image of his face. “If it’s your first time here, I’m Taiping, and I make beef jerky.” | Suddenly the livestream, which had been showing the idyllic vista, cut to a man in his 30s, wearing a Mongolian hat with a pointed golden spire. “Welcome, brothers and sisters!” he announced from his perch atop a platform bed. “How’s the signal? I set up Wi-Fi in my yurt.” He held up a bag of beef jerky, branded with a cartoon image of his face. “If it’s your first time here, I’m Taiping, and I make beef jerky.” |
| It was another day at work for Taiping, a Chinese livestreaming salesman. Illuminated by carefully arranged studio lights, speaking into two iPhones propped up on a table, Taiping began wooing the thousands of viewers who tapped into his channel. He dangled unwrapped jerky before the camera, describing traditional Mongolian air-drying techniques. He shredded it with his fingers to show its tenderness. | It was another day at work for Taiping, a Chinese livestreaming salesman. Illuminated by carefully arranged studio lights, speaking into two iPhones propped up on a table, Taiping began wooing the thousands of viewers who tapped into his channel. He dangled unwrapped jerky before the camera, describing traditional Mongolian air-drying techniques. He shredded it with his fingers to show its tenderness. |
| Viewers, by typing comments, sent real-time questions that bubbled from the bottom of the video feed, about how spicy it was or which flavor was best. (Taiping, who read each comment aloud, suggested buying half original, half cumin.) Some longtime fans sent animated pink hearts or thumbs-up symbols, while others simply wanted to say hello. “I missed you, too,” Taiping, who like many ethnic Mongolians uses only one name, replied to one viewer. | Viewers, by typing comments, sent real-time questions that bubbled from the bottom of the video feed, about how spicy it was or which flavor was best. (Taiping, who read each comment aloud, suggested buying half original, half cumin.) Some longtime fans sent animated pink hearts or thumbs-up symbols, while others simply wanted to say hello. “I missed you, too,” Taiping, who like many ethnic Mongolians uses only one name, replied to one viewer. |