China's online shopping makes life easier

BEIJING, Aug.23 (Xinhuanet) -- "China's online shopping makes life easier!" exclaimed Afu, in fluent Chinese mandarin, when talking about how his life was changed by this "great new invention".

Afu, a German coming to China in 2007, is now living in east China's Shanghai with his Chinese wife.

He lately went viral in China's social media platform due to his amazing video clips on the network, which recorded his happy life in China.

Over the past years, Afu has witnessed rapid development of China's online shopping.

"When I first came to China, everyone used the Internet, but hardly did they know online shopping," Afu recalled.

But now, China's online shopping has been trending by virtue of goods in attractive price, quality and rich variety, offered by diverse online platforms, he said.

It also goes down a storm among foreigners, Afu added, taking Germany, as an example, where online shopping features long delivery time and multiple delivery fees.

According to him, in Germany, people usually have to wait three to seven working days to receive the goods they ordered online, not to mention non-working days such as weekends and holidays.

But in China, people are used to getting the package on the next day, Afu noted.

He also mentioned that in addition to delivery fee, sometimes people have to pay extra fees in Germany such as insurance fee, service fee, long distance fee, security fee, and registration fee, etc.

Whereas in China, the delivery fee is just a few yuan, and sometimes the delivery is even free, Afu said.

China's booming online shopping has not only become an essential part of Chinese people's lives, but also left prominent impression on numerous foreigners, who can't help giving the thumbs-up to it.

People can buy stuff from all over the world in China, Afu said.

As the world's largest online retail market for many years, in 2016, China's e-commerce transaction volume reached 26.1 trillion yuan, accounting for 39.2 percent of the global e-commerce retail market.

With the implementation of policies on cross-border e-commerce pilot zones and the unimpeded trade policy under the Belt and Road Initiative, China's online shopping is bound to benefit more people like Afu around the world.