GUANGZHOU, April 24, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Donning hijabs and floor-length abaya

gowns over shorts and tank tops, Chinese students at an e-commerce school
perform into a smartphone camera as they learn how to sell the clothes to
overseas TikTok users.

It is the final day of a two-week course on selling products abroad via the
short video app -- which despite being blocked in China is a platform more
and more Chinese vendors are turning to.

Succeeding on TikTok requires tools for bypassing internet restrictions as
well as foreign-language skills, challenges that have prompted a boom in
courses and consulting services.

At the school in Guangzhou in southern Guangdong province, an instructor
holds up the Middle Eastern-inspired garments to the camera and rattles off
prices and sizing information for Muslim buyers in the UK.

"This is chiffon, it's really breathable!" she gushes in English as her
proteges model the goods and sort through racks of satin robes under stark
studio lights.

"We teach people which products are selling better, and which markets are
more suitable for their current stages," 27-year-old Wang Yaxuan, another
instructor at the school, tells AFP.

Guangdong is home to thousands of factories making a mindboggling variety of
products, from the abayas to espresso machine parts to wigs made of human
hair.

After decades of producing goods for export, Chinese companies are
increasingly seeking to cut out the middleman and market themselves at lower
prices, directly to overseas consumers.

Shein, the China-founded fast fashion giant, has effectively taken over the
lower-end Western market using this strategy, with TikTok a key facet of its
selling network.

TikTok Shop launched in the United States late last year, and e-commerce
features have previously been rolled out in places like Britain and Southeast
Asia.

A casual scroll on the hugely popular app's "Live" tab can land users on
multiple shopping livestreams within minutes.

But with TikTok unavailable in China -- parent company Bytedance operates the
more strictly censored sister app Douyin domestically -- smaller businesses
there are at a disadvantage.

Courses like the one at Mede Education Technology's e-commerce school help by
covering everything from the basics of creating a TikTok account to handling
shipping and analysing sales data.

Fees start at around 9,000 yuan ($1,244) for a six-day course.

Students, who range from factory owners to fresh graduates, often take
classes for multiple foreign shopping platforms including Amazon and
Southeast Asia's Shopee.

- Information gap -

Qiu Zhouwen, a course participant in his 30s, works for a Guangzhou cosmetics
company.

He says his company enrolled him because they are hoping to eventually sell
their skincare range through TikTok.

"Information is part of the cost (of doing business) now, and if you don't
have the information that's appropriate to the market, your cost will be way
too high," Qiu says.

Wang, the Mede instructor, attended university in the United States and says
it can be challenging for Chinese sellers to adapt to different consumer
tastes abroad.

Chemical manufacturer Donghua Jinlong spawned viral memes on TikTok this
month after overseas social media users found absurdist humour in the
company's matter-of-fact videos about industrial-grade glycine featuring AI-
generated voiceovers.

There are also significant technical hurdles.

Accessing TikTok from China requires VPN software to bypass the country's
virtual "Great Firewall", while dodging the app's own curbs on users
manipulating their IP addresses.

VPNs are a legal grey area in China, with authorities occasionally cracking
down while generally tolerating their use for business purposes.

TikTok is also caught up in global geopolitical tensions -- the US Congress
is threatening to ban the app entirely over concerns it could share personal
data with the Chinese government.

Wang is unfazed by the prospect of a US TikTok ban.

"Our students are not just selling to the US market... the current trend for
TikTok for Southeast Asia is also very good," she tells AFP.

Wang says it's not the first time this situation has happened, adding that
she feels the United States was trying to "take this huge cake and split up
the market".

- Catchphrases and clicks -

Mede is one of many organisations running TikTok classes, including others
based in Guangdong, where authorities have hung up propaganda banners
promoting international e-commerce.

Those not willing to shell out steep course fees can also seek advice from e-
commerce veterans who have built a following on Chinese social apps by
sharing TikTok tips.

Molly Zhao, a 23-year-old TikTok livestreamer, has been selling products
including clothing and electronics online since 2022.

Zhao, who studied in Italy and speaks Italian and English, told AFP her
foreign-language skills have earned her livestreaming jobs paying as much as
20,000 yuan ($2,760) each month.

She regularly posts videos for domestic viewers on Douyin, covering topics
including common English phrases and how to explain shipping rates clearly.

"You must build up the atmosphere," she explains in one video, adding that
using a catchphrase can "make a deeper impression on customers".

In another video, a smiling, dancing Zhao shares her warmup routine before a
livestream session selling gemstones and crystals to US viewers.

"Time to earn Americans' money," she says in a deadpan caption. "I'll put on
some music to hype myself up."