American girl's life in Beijing

Editor’s note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up, and huge changes have been made in Beijing, capital of China, over the past 40 years. We have invited 40 foreign experts to participate in a series of interviews named “New Era, New Insight” jointly hosted by GMW.cn（The official website of Guangming Daily） and the Information Office of Beijing Municipality and share their “Beijing Stories”. The following is the script of the interview with Ella Kidron, International Communications Manager at JD.com.

Ella Kidron, International Communications Manager at JD.com (Photo source: Guangming Online)

Hello, I’m Ella Kidron. My Chinese name is Ai Lan. I’m American. I’m International Communications Manager at JD.com. I also teach swimming and yoga.

When I was in the U.S., I competed in many national swimming competitions. After I moved to China, I decided to teach swimming. Now I'm teaching two kids to swim

In my spare time, I also take my friends to swim. I think these leisure-time activities on the one hand help me to integrate into life in Beijing. On the other hand, they enlarge my horizon.

I first came to Beijing 10 years ago. In my impression, people were still using functional mobile phones at that time. And they couldn’t use mobile payment like we do now.

If I wanted to by a 3C product, I used cash to pay for it at Zhongguancun. Two years ago, I moved to Beijing. Then I found people all use smart phones.

Even stall keepers in the street accept mobile payment. When I went shopping with my friends in Beijing 10 years ago, I saw people mostly buy clothes and food. They mostly bought daily necessities.

But now it has changed. They tend to buy products they are interested in. For instance, artificial intelligence (AI) sound systems are very popular on JD.com.

Consumers can use voice control to buy products through AI sound system. And they can also control their furniture via voice control. JD.com is now constantly promoting unmanned projects, including drones, self-driving cars and zero-labor factories.

Fresh produce and fashion products are also very popular. And many overseas products are getting more popular. Now more overseas brands choose to settle at JD.com. As consumers’ incomes increase in Beijing, they require better quality and more notable brands of products.

And it reflects Beijing’s consumption upgrade.

I think the reason why people choose to shop on JD.com is that our delivery is very fast. And it can ensure the quality of products. The products you buy can even be delivered to you the same day.

Its fast delivery and reliable service attract consumers. I think JD.com is always a tech company. Now China develops very fast in science and technology.

There are many innovative and tech companies in Beijing, no matter large or small innovative companies. Beijing’s business environment is suitable for innovation, which can make innovative companies develop fast.