Postal and delivery services now cover all rural areas in Xizang

The Xizang autonomous region has achieved full coverage of rural postal and delivery services, extending logistics networks to some of the country's most remote farming and pastoral areas, officials said on Monday.

Lhakpa, an official with the market supervision department of the regional postal administration, said Xizang has built 1,324 postal and express delivery outlets and upgraded 2,410 village-level postal logistics service stations. Express delivery services now reach all administrative villages across the region, he said.

"This means distribution centers in every county, service outlets in every township and delivery services in every village," Lhakpa said.

Rural postal routes across Xizang are now fully motorized, with vehicle-based delivery operating on all routes, he said, adding that the rural postal and logistics network has achieved 100 percent coverage through a three-tier system linking counties, townships and villages.

The expanded network allows farmers and herders to access postal services within their own villages, offering service levels comparable to those in urban areas. The improvements have addressed the long-standing "last mile" delivery challenge in remote agricultural and pastoral regions, Lhakpa said.

Logistics upgrades have gone hand in hand with efforts to expand e-commerce. Zhao Lei, an official with the commerce services division of the regional department of commerce, said Xizang implemented the "Free Shipping for Xizang" initiative during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).

Under the program, major e-commerce platforms including Taobao, Tmall and JD.com were encouraged to offer free or discounted shipping to Xizang while balancing commercial interests with broader social responsibilities. The goal is to reduce logistics costs and improve equitable access to online consumption, Zhao said.

The JD Group has been a major partner. Through its "E-Commerce in Rural Areas" project, the company has directly invested more than 500 million yuan ($71 million) in Xizang and attracted an additional 1.5 billion yuan in external investment, Zhao said.

Su Yinghu, head of China Post's Xizang branch, said a comprehensive rural e-commerce ecosystem integrating agricultural sales, logistics distribution and inclusive financial services has taken shape over the past five years.

The system has enabled more than 230,000 orders of agricultural products, with total sales exceeding 132 million yuan, Su said. Nearly 1.3 billion yuan in agriculture-related loans has also been issued, supporting local businesses and creating more than 1,300 jobs for farmers and herders.

Lhakpa said the number of online products eligible for free shipping to Xizang has risen to nearly 1.7 billion items, up 119 percent year-on-year. JD Group's warehouse in Lhasa, the regional capital, now stocks 82,000 items and processes about 22,000 shipments a day.

For residents, the impact is tangible. Pema, a villager from Tashigang village in Lunang township in Nyingchi city, said online shopping has become significantly more convenient.

"Packages often arrive within a few days," he said. "Our local products, such as mushrooms and local pork, can now be sold across the country."

Contact the writers at palden_nyima@chinadaily.com.cn