Market traders and street vendors (小贩) are making a comeback across China, and this time they find themselves equipped with a new set of digital skills essential to directing the vast consumer market. To make mom-and-pop retail stands active, the country’s leading e-commerce platforms are lending a helping hand, offering a series of services from inventory support to accessible financing backed by technologies to finally promote domestic (国内的) spending and employment.

Domestic wholesale site 1688.com is among the first group of tech players with such offerings. At the heart of the action plan is an effort to link street vendors directly with factories, effectively avoiding middlemen and saving time and costs. “The large number of small-scale merchants on the site has managed to gain the upper hand in price negotiations, while manufacturers are more willing to mass-produce goods as the economy of scale serves to reduce costs, thus creating a win-win situation,” general manager Wang Hai said. On the financial front,1688’s parent Alibaba Group is offering interest-free loans worth a total of 70 billion yuan, with which qualified merchants can purchase goods in quantity. Risk assessment for each applicant is conducted by sister service My bank.

Meanwhile, e-commerce giant JD.com has promised to secure quality goods worth more than 50 billion yuan and is offering each stall keeper up to 100,000 yuan worth of interest-free loans for the purpose of filling their inventory. To stabilize (稳定) employment, JD decided to add a number of job positions that either require flexible working hours, allow working from home or are designed to promote startup businesses. For posts related to logistics, delivery, warehouse management and packaging, people from poverty-stricken areas should be employed first.

“The novel coronavirus outbreak will accelerate the digital transformation of the real economy, and individual traders and smaller stores are no exception,” said Xu Lei, CEO of JD’s retail unit. “We have the ability and, more important, the responsibility to inject vitality (活力) into these entities, thus contributing to the economic rebound and stabilizing employment.”

Staying with family members or receiving professional care? Seniors in Harbin have a new choice to enrich their life in retirement(退休), as harbin.dbw.cn reported.

The seniors can take a bus to a day-care nursing home every day between 8 am and 5 pm, just like others go to work, and go back home to be with their families in the evening.

In the nursing home, they will receive professional care, have lunch, take part in activities such as calligraphy(书法) and singing, and take university courses designed for them.

According to a research, there were 1.75 million seniors by the end of 2015. Less than 10 percent choose to stay in the nursing home while most live at home. Loneliness and shortage of care are the major problems facing the stay-at-home seniors.

"After my mother passed away, I struggled to take good care of my father," said Zhou, an office worker.

Those who have retired parents agree that their parents spend a boring and lonely day at home, watching TV all day and filling their stomach with food. The situation becomes worse in winter when elders are unable to go out due to the cold.

However, the cost of such nursing homes is different from person to person but stands at around 2,000 yuan ($290). Another problem is the shortage of facilities (设施). Even if two seniors share a room in the nursing home, the city still lacks(缺少) at least 100,000 such rooms.

Since graduating from middle school, this year's new 9th-grade class is adapting to (适应) the challenges of high school, a difficult process (过程) for many students. Some of the challenges the students must get used to are the increasing difficulty of schoolwork, the amount of homework, and the change in the grading system among other things.

“It's a bit harder than middle school, but that is to be expected from every ongoing year,” David Palacios, 9th-grade student, said.

Adaptation is also influenced by stories the freshmen hear before entering. These stories create a negative (消极的) idea of high school, as they are usually bad stories about classes, teachers, or other topics.

“Stories I've heard of high school are exaggerated (夸张的),” Palacios said.

The school is fighting against student fear by providing information about high school, even before they enter. This year, the 9th-grade class entered school on August 8, one day earlier than other high school students. This was done to help the freshmen by solving any doubts they could have.

“In general, they adapt well, because since middle school they have been given some information on what high school is,” Ana Isabel Garcia, high school advisor, said.        

The changes faced in 9th grade are more challenging than those found in middle school. However, after experiencing the first two months of 9th grade, many 9th graders agree that 9th grade is not as hard as they thought it would be.

“It's not that different from middle school,” Palacios said.

High school is harder than other grades as it's the final step students take before they enter the real world. Students must see the important role high school plays as it teaches them many skills that will help them improve their future.

“They do well because they come in with a good attitude (态度) and wish to adapt well,” Garcia said.