The interior of the New Silk Road Cross-Border E-Commerce Trading Center in Pingtan, Fujian province, where local residents and visitors can buy commodities from all over the world. [Photo/ptnet.cn]

The New Silk Road Cross-Border E-Commerce Trading Center, the first of its kind in the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone, Fujian province, will start trial operation as of June 1, ptnet.cn reported.

About 20,000 varieties of commodities from more than 10 countries and regions, including the US, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Europe and Taiwan, will be available for local residents.

The commodities will be classified according to their places of origin and displayed in related pavilions.

The pavilions will be decorated with the unique features of the original countries or regions to help consumers enjoy foreign cultures and give them a better shopping experience, said a manager of the center. For instance, the Japanese pavilion will feature sakura, Japan's national flower, and have staff members dressed in kimono and speaking Japanese.

The manager added that thanks to Pingtan's duty-free and simpler customs clearance policies, part of the goods are cheaper than the market price.

In addition to the offline trading center, an online shopping mall is also under construction, enabling the resident to buy cheap and high-quality foreign products at home.

This project came from a local authorities' idea to boost cross-border e-commerce, due to Pingtan's status as a pilot city of cross-border e-commerce. The authorities expected to turn Pingtan into China's leading pilot area for cross-border e-commerce in the near future.