FILE: Shandong Province, east China - 2017 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Rural convenience store with online shopping services
2. Display area for goods sold online
3. QR code
4. Store owner marking package
5. Store owner browsing web pages
6. Villager waiting for store owner's service

FILE: Tongling City, Anhui Province, east China - Feb 13, 2018 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
7. Various of rural Taobao couriers working, delivering parcels

FILE: Qufu City, Shandong Province, east China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
8. Various of staff members working in office
9. Online seal store
10. Staff
11. Various of Zhang Kai, manager of Kong Fu Yin Ge Cultural Seal Carving Base, carving seal
12. Various of staff in office
13. Online seal store

FILE: Sunjiazhang Village, Jiangzhuang Town, Gaomi City, Shandong Province, east China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
14. People talking in front of Chinese New Year painting
15. Various of Wang making Chinese New Year paintings with willow branch ash
16. Various of Chinese New Year paintings

FILE: Qingdao City, Shandong Province, east China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
17. Various of artists making Chinese New Year painting

FILE:Shanghai, east China - November, 2017 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
18. Various of parcels on conveyor
19. Workers handling parcels
20. Various of storage

FILE: Beijing, China - June 18, 2016 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
21. Truck
22. Various of delivery men handling packages

Online retail sales across China's rural areas experienced tremendous growth last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday.

Online retail sales soared to 1.37 trillion yuan (about 201.47 billion U.S. dollars) in rural areas in 2018, up 30.4 percent year on year, said Gao Feng, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce.

Online sales of agricultural products amounted to 230.5 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year growth of 33.8 percent.

E-commerce has become a key way to help the underprivileged get rid of poverty, Gao noted.

The idea of invigorating impoverished regions through e-commerce has been on the government's agenda in recent years. Rural incomes have kept growing but still lag behind urban levels.

By the end of 2018, China had 16.6 million impoverished rural residents. The authorities believe e-commerce can help them sell more produce and boost income levels.

Last year, a nationwide e-commerce alliance was formed by 29 organizations and companies to help farmers in 351 poor counties promote their produce online.

China aims to build a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and eradicate extreme poverty by 2020.