Where to Begin
The "15th Five-Year Plan" clearly advocates for strengthening digital village construction, deeply integrating artificial intelligence and big data with rural industries, grassroots governance, and public services to activate the endogenous power of rural revitalization through digital intelligence.
Foping County, located at the southern foot of the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi Province, spans 1,279 square kilometers with a population of 35,000. Its forest coverage rate reaches 91.19%, and it serves as the core water source for the national "South-to-North Water Diversion" and "Water Diversion from Han to Wei" projects. With over 130 wild giant pandas, it is known as "China's No.1 Panda County." As a national pilot county for digital villages and a practice and innovation base for "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," Foping boasts superior ecological endowments. However, constrained by mountainous geography, it has long faced issues such as weak industries, talent outflow, and insufficient public service coverage.
In recent years, leveraging targeted assistance from the Cyberspace Administration of China and comprehensive digital empowerment from internet technology companies, Foping has focused on five key areas: AI applications, digital cultural tourism, digital employment, digital-real integration, and digital public welfare. This has driven deep digital technology penetration across the entire rural area, forging a new path for rural revitalization and technological prosperity suited to mountainous counties.
AI Implementation Across the Board, Building a Foundation for Smart Rural Governance
To address the shortcomings of scattered mountain villages, a shortage of professional talent, and limited service reach, Foping partnered with the Alibaba Foundation and the China Internet Development Foundation to create an "AI Foping+" comprehensive smart service system. This system achieves full coverage of AI technology across multiple scenarios, including rural governance, agricultural technology services, public consultation, and scenic area operations.
In April 2026, Yinchanggou Village in Xichahe Town implemented the Alibaba Foundation's AI all-in-one machine, becoming the first of the county's 44 administrative villages to achieve full intelligent service coverage. Gao Quan, Alibaba's rural revitalization commissioner stationed in Foping, explained that the device can accurately identify the Foping dialect, providing 24/7 services such as guidance on planting and breeding techniques, interpretation of medical insurance and social security policies, inquiries about farmer-benefiting policies, and grassroots office consultations. This effectively solves the long-standing problem of remote villagers facing difficulties in handling affairs and seeking advice. Simultaneously, a "Digital Economy Spark" team of nine people was formed to specifically promote the implementation of AI scenarios and the popularization of digital literacy.
"The AI digital human understands local dialects and is on duty around the clock. Whether you need technical guidance for farming or policy inquiries for official matters, it's all just a click away, upgrading public services in remote villages," said Gao Quan. The full-scale implementation of AI has made rural governance more precise, efficient, and convenient for the people.
Digital Intelligence Reshapes Cultural Tourism, Unlocking the Value of Ecological Resources
Foping has 79,000 hectares of panda habitat, with the highest density of wild pandas in the country. Its Qinling panda protection case has been selected as a national biodiversity excellence case. Previously, high-quality ecological resources suffered from scattered business formats, extensive operations, and weak monetization capabilities. Leveraging Alibaba's digitalization and platform advantages, Foping has achieved a comprehensive digital upgrade of its cultural tourism industry.
In the construction of smart scenic areas, Alibaba customized a dedicated AI scenic area system for Foping Old Street, covering functions such as intelligent commentary, smart navigation, visitor flow monitoring, and online consultation, addressing the smart service deficiencies of mountainous scenic spots. To address the shortcomings of Foping's tourism infrastructure, Fliggy's cultural tourism professional team provided full-process planning support, connecting high-quality resources like the Giant Panda Base, Dagu Ping Panda Village, and the Xi'an Terracotta Warriors to create a premium eco-cultural tourism route called "The Call of the Panda." According to reports, the route's first week of sales exceeded 12 million yuan, effectively revitalizing the county's ecological and cultural tourism resources. An innovative model linking farmers with enterprises was also introduced, transforming villagers from Dagu Ping Village into "nature guides," offering research tour guiding, farming experiences, and specialty catering services, with some villagers earning up to 10,000 yuan more per month.
"Once, excellent resources deep in the mountains were unknown to the outside world. Now, digital planning and platform-based traffic have turned scattered attractions into premium routes, truly converting lucid waters and lush mountains into wealth-creating industries," said a representative from the Qinling Golden Monkey Foping Rescue, Breeding, and Research Base.
Digital Industry Establishment, Creating a Pathway for Youth Talent to Return
Foping has distinct mountainous characteristics, with a nearly non-existent secondary processing industry, insufficient local employment opportunities, and a severe problem of youth outflow. Relying on the Foping Branch of the Qin Chuang Yuan (Hanzhong) Innovation Promotion Center, the county has taken on Alibaba's digital industry projects, establishing a new development model of "sci-tech incubation + digital employment + talent return."
The center, which opened in December 2023, covers an area of 2,500 square meters. It has housed 14 sci-tech enterprises, cultivated 7 high-tech enterprises and 30 small and medium-sized tech-based enterprises, and gathered 177 sci-tech talents. The fifth floor of the park houses the only Alibaba-managed digital employment base in the province – the Alibaba (Foping) Customer Experience Center – which handles digital tasks such as AIGC text annotation, platform compliance verification, and local life services. The base currently has 80 employees, with an average age of 26, 98% holding a college degree or higher, over 50% being returnees, and 25% being talent from outside Foping.
The establishment of the digital industry has completely reversed the trend of talent outflow, attracting chain brands like Luckin Coffee and Mixue Ice Cream & Tea to enter the county for the first time, creating a virtuous cycle of "talent return, consumption upgrade, and business format prosperity." This has explored a new path for digital empowerment of talent revitalization in mountainous counties. Local e-commerce operators are also leveraging this trend to transform and develop roots.
"I used to work outside the county. Seeing the continuous improvement of the digital business environment in my hometown, I returned to start an online business selling local agricultural products and Chinese medicinal herbs. Alibaba's AI practical training helped me significantly reduce costs. Previously, outsourcing graphic design work cost thousands of yuan per time; now I can do it myself in an hour. E-commerce talent is scarce in the county. I hope more such training will be held in the future to cultivate more local digital talent," said Tang Peng, a local e-commerce operator in Foping.
"Relying on neither traditional industry nor resource extraction, lightweight digital jobs retain young talent and inject lasting vitality into the development of a small county," said the head of the Alibaba (Foping) Customer Experience Center.
Deep Integration of Digital and Real Economies Drives Upgrading of Local Industries
To solve problems such as low added value of agricultural products, disconnection between production and sales, and short industrial chains, Foping, relying on Alibaba's rural revitalization support system, implemented three major plans: e-commerce mentoring, cultivation of industry leaders, and industrial chain repatriation. This drives the digitization, branding, and industrial upgrading of traditional agriculture.
Zhou Zhengya, a young entrepreneur returning to her hometown, with full support from Alibaba's commissioner, founded the "Nong Xiaozhen" brand and created a best-selling Qinling mushroom soup pack. In 2025, she relocated her outsourced production line back to Foping to establish a community factory, providing stable jobs for nearly 50 left-behind women in surrounding villages and towns. This led to an average annual income increase of 45,000 yuan for the employed workers, indirectly benefiting over 2,000 people. She also built a live-streaming incubation base, enabling 25 young people and stay-at-home mothers to find work locally.
Digital empowerment has accelerated the development of county e-commerce. The number of online stores increased from 6 to 30, express delivery volume grew tenfold, the cost per express parcel dropped from 6 yuan to 1.8 yuan, and the county's total annual e-commerce sales exceeded 10 million yuan. Additionally, Alibaba created the "Yu + Panda" regional public brand and the "Xiong Xiaoxin" IP, covering over ten scenarios including transportation and scenic spots. In 2025, the county's tourist arrivals increased by 26.06% year-on-year, and total tourism revenue grew by 32.04%. This achieved a strategic transformation from "selling resources" to "selling brands and ecology."
"Digitalization has broken down the barriers between production and sales, allowing local specialties from deep mountains to go to market and form industries, truly driving stable income growth for our fellow villagers," said Zhou Zhengya, a local industry leader.
Digital Public Welfare Empowers Warm and Heartfelt Public Services in Rural Areas
Foping integrates digital operational concepts into basic livelihood security. Relying on the Alibaba Foundation, it launched the "Parents' Cafeteria" elderly care project, building a sustainable model for rural mutual-aid elderly care. It is reported that in June 2023, the Dongyuedian Village Parents' Cafeteria began operations, simultaneously covering Xichahe Village, providing affordable meal services for nearly 100 left-behind and elderly individuals over 65 years old across the county. The elderly only need to pay 2 yuan per meal to enjoy a nutritious lunch with one meat and one vegetable dish. The cafeteria operates using digital ledgers for standardized management and offers additional services like health monitoring, psychological support, and holiday companionship. As of July 2026, it serves an average of 30 elderly people daily, consistently supports over 60 elderly in need, and has served over 30,000 meals in total.
Guan, a 79-year-old villager from Dongyuedian Village, who has been caring for her disabled husband alone for years, travels 40 minutes daily to the cafeteria for meals and brings food back for her husband. "Being able to eat hot, nutritious meals here and chat with neighbors makes our later years feel particularly secure and warm," said Guan.
It is understood that Alibaba's rural revitalization commissioner system, with Party building as the core, establishes a three-tier support system involving the Group's Party Committee, county-level Party groups, and frontline commissioners, enabling the two-way integration of organizational strength and platform resources. The system abandons standardized assistance models, adhering to a "one county, one policy" approach of precise empowerment, using digital technology to help various regions upgrade industries and improve livelihoods. It also adheres to a long-termism philosophy, with a rotating commissioner mechanism ensuring continuous grassroots engagement and project implementation. This uses the power of Party building to empower digital revitalization, creating a sustainable and long-lasting model for internet enterprise rural revitalization assistance.
During research, accompanying experts stated that Foping's rural revitalization has charted a new path for digital intelligence to empower rural revitalization. Simultaneously, Alibaba's rural revitalization commissioner system has opened a new avenue for corporate public welfare in the new era. It is hoped that more enterprises can learn from this institutional innovation and jointly contribute to rural revitalization.
In line with the "15th Five-Year Plan" for digital village construction, Foping, leveraging its mountainous ecological endowments and focusing on digital intelligence empowerment, has comprehensively addressed the development shortcomings of mountainous villages through AI smart governance, digital cultural tourism upgrades, digital industry clustering, digital-real integration for agriculture, and digital public welfare as a safety net. This has forged a unique path of small-county digitalization and deep-mountain large-scale revitalization. In the future, Foping will continue to deepen the government-enterprise digital assistance mechanism, continuously amplify the advantages of technology empowerment and digital wealth creation, promote the deep integration of ecological, digital, and livelihood values, and strive to build a model of mountain digital revitalization for a livable, business-friendly, and beautiful countryside.
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