Almost half of China's 1.3 billion population still live in rural areas. While incomes are growing, some rural residents still lack the employment opportunities and everyday products and services that city dwellers take for granted.

Alibaba sees this as a huge unmet demand.

Through its Rural Taobao initiative, the tech titan is helping to raise living standards in the Chinese countryside by providing e-commerce access for millions of poorer residents. Taobao is Alibaba's customer-to-customer online marketplace.