URUMQI, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- For about nine hours a day, Altyn Magzina sells clothes to customers through livestreams from Horgos, a border city in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region facing Kazakhstan.
The Kazakh livestreamer runs the business with a Chinese partner and says she sells at least 300 items a day. Her income, she said, is about 10 times what she earned trading goods back in Kazakhstan.
Magzina is among more than 300 foreign livestreamers now working regularly at the China-Kazakhstan Horgos International Border Cooperation Center. Another 100-plus Chinese hosts are also based there, according to the center's management office.
A longstanding trade gateway, the county-level city under Xinjiang's Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture was approved as a national cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone in November 2022, and is now part of the China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone.
The city currently has 45 cross-border e-commerce companies, according to the municipal commerce bureau. Its cross-border e-commerce turnover reached 30.97 billion yuan (about 4.57 billion U.S. dollars) in 2025, up 288.9 percent year on year. The figure stood at 18.41 billion yuan in the first seven months of this year.
Warehouses, logistics firms, online platforms and product selection centers have grown alongside the livestreaming business. Products moving through the system include household goods, small appliances, clothing, tools and auto parts, with sales reaching more than 30 countries.
At a cross-border e-commerce incubation center, Kazakh host Valeriy Bolotov prepares neck massagers, AI translation earphones, wearable devices and other products before going live.
Bolotov once ran a brick-and-mortar shop in Almaty, Kazakhstan's commercial hub, selling products such as honey and fresh food. As online shopping caught on with Central Asian consumers, he spotted a business opportunity selling Chinese products online, drawn by their variety, quality and fast cross-border delivery.
He moved to Horgos and began using his existing customer base and social media accounts to sell Chinese products. Since then, he said, his business has expanded beyond Kazakhstan to reach markets such as Russia and Uzbekistan.
That is where hosts like Jamalov Abdulzakir come in.
The 29-year-old Kazakh, who previously studied in China and speaks fluent Chinese, now works as an overseas business manager at a cross-border e-commerce service company. He also takes part in livestream sales, product promotion and business matchmaking between Chinese and overseas traders.
Foreign hosts can pitch products in Kazakh or Russian and answer viewer questions in real time, helping Central Asian shoppers better understand their purchases, he explained.
For some merchants, livestreaming is also bringing in wholesale business.
Tang Yanlin, a vendor based at the Yiwu trade mall inside the cooperation center, said her shop regularly hires Kazakh livestreamers. Its clients have grown from mostly retail buyers to a mix of retail and wholesale customers. Some Uzbek traders even use livestreams to connect with suppliers and negotiate bulk purchases.
Those sales also rely on reliable deliveries to shoppers across Central Asia.
Horgos pools port infrastructure, logistics networks, product supplies and talent in one location, while foreign livestreamers help sellers match goods with overseas demand, said Zhang Chenxi, deputy general manager of Horgos Fulun Cross-border E-commerce Service Co., Ltd.
Zhang's firm handles product sourcing, livestream incubation, customs clearance and overseas warehousing, operating more than 600 collection points and overseas warehouses solely within Kazakhstan.
A road-rail international logistics park in Horgos, launched in October 2025, has attracted over 50 logistics, foreign trade and freight-forwarding companies. During the first eight months of this year, inbound and outbound vehicle traffic each topped 10,000, with warehouses running at full capacity, said Li Yan, chairman of Xinjiang Asia Europe China Railway International Logistics Group Co., Ltd.
Horgos has also opened a dedicated internet service for cross-border livestreaming. Meanwhile, the cooperation center has been enhancing services for foreign livestreamers, including support for entry, residence and work.
Magzina plans to bring her children to Horgos so they can attend local schools and learn Chinese. "There are many job opportunities here and plenty of room for development," she said. Enditem
京公网安备 11010802027341号