Farmers load harvested red jujubes in Ruoqiang County, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. File photo: Xinhua
Chinese netizens launched a campaign advertising the specialties and beautiful scenery of Northwest China’s Xinjiang on social media Thursday amid national anger toward foreign brands’ boycott of Xinjiang cotton.
Liu Jiahui, a 23-year-old member of staff at Tuantuan’s Bazaar, an e-commerce platform selling Xinjiang agricultural products, told the Global Times on Thursday that she was surprised that orders have risen nearly 17 times since Wednesday.
“I thought the rise was due to commercial promotion through some channels, but when I opened online chat windows I found customers were buying the products because they want to support farmers and businesses in Xinjiang,” Liu said. People had left messages like “Stay strong, Xinjiang! Hold on, Xinjiang, and we will come and visit you.” “It’s so nice to know that netizens all around our country care about Xinjiang and support us,” she said.
The hashtag of must-buy Xinjiang goods has been viewed 27.73 million times and appeared in 19,000 posts as of press time on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo. Xinjiang specialties ranging from nuts and jam to lavender essential oil are all being promoted by netizens.
“I love our Xinjiang, which is a great place,” a netizen posted with a photo of chili source produced in Xinjiang on Sina Weibo.
The hashtag of “Xinjiang is a great place” was also trending on short-video platform Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, on Thursday. Short video bloggers posted stunning scenery of tourist attractions like Tianshan Mountain and Kanas Lake in Xinjiang.