Photo: E-commerce in rural areas

Online marketplace giant Alibaba on Tuesday announced the company has sealed an agreement with China Communist Youth League, a CPC reserve force, to train 1 million teenagers to take e-commerce to rural areas.

Alibaba will earmark 1 billion yuan (154 million U.S. dollars) to support college graduates who want to return to their hometowns to start businesses. The agreement signifies that more rural youth can receive help to jumpstart online businesses, being offered training, funds and partnerships.

With an increasing number of farmers selling produce online, e-commerce is developing quickly in rural China. Service stations have been set up in villages to help those who lack the necessary skills to buy and sell online. Villagers nowadays can order goods at the stations and return a few days later to pick up their packages.

China's online sales remained strong in 2015, jumping 33.3 percent to 3.88 trillion yuan (around 0.6 trillion U.S. dollars). Online sales in rural areas grew at double the pace of urban areas. Rural shoppers, who account for nearly one-third of the total, spent 195 million yuan (around 30 million U.S. dollars) online last year.