Two hours’ drive from the nearest city, in a secluded village tucked at the end of a winding mountain road, a woman clad in traditional Bai clothing stares into a camera and touts the benefits of locally-grown fragrant rice.
“The rice is nutritious and has a delicate sweetness,” she tells viewers on the live-stream e-commerce platform, Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
Propped up in corners of the air-conditioned room are various handicrafts for sale: blue handbags, handkerchiefs and…