Wang Qi, a popular livestream host in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, starts her show on a Tencent livestreaming platform at 7 pm every day.

The influencer is also known as Erya among netizens. Her job is to promote various products to potential customers via livestreams.

Erya is charming and always has a friendly and familiar smile. The neighborly affinity is her unique selling point, and generates trust among viewers.

The 26-year-old has been working for Jinshanghang Technology, a multichannel marketing company based in Taiyuan, since she graduated from a university three years ago.

Jinshanghang operates official accounts on WeChat using text content and video blogs to promote products and services for various companies.

During her first two years at the company, Erya mainly worked as a writer and video maker. She produced a great number of videos to share with viewers her household tips in a wide range of areas.

Erya's video blogs have generated more than 120 million views over the past two years.

The outbreak of COVID-19 at the beginning of this year has made livestreaming a major channel for advertising and selling goods.

Grasping this opportunity, Jinshanghang opened its online showrooms and Erya immediately turned to be a livestreaming star with more than 10 million followers.

An Erya-featured livestream during the Nov 11 shopping festival generated a gross merchandise transaction value of 9.3 billion yuan ($1.42 million), a record high for a Jinshanghang livestream.

During the entire Nov 11 shopping festival period that lasted about two weeks, Erya worked a total of 45 hours on nine livestreams in various cities in Shanxi, generating a gross merchandise transaction value of 18.2 million yuan.

In addition to Erya, Jinshanghang has a 100-strong flock of hosts for livestreaming shows, according to Li Bin, deputy general manager of the company.

Eyeing the potential of the livestreaming sector in driving market demand, Shanxi's authorities have strongly supported the industry.

The Shanxi Department of Commerce released a document in July encouraging the establishment of more livestreaming e-commerce businesses in the province.

Symbol Livestream based in Taiyuan is one of the emerging players in the sector.

"Since our founding in May, we have broadcast more than 100 shows for brands in Shanxi and the rest of the country," said Wang Kun, an executive of the company.

Young as it is, Symbol Livestream has a professional team that is capable of catering to the varied demands of clients, the executive said.

In addition to the promotion online of products and services, Wang Kun said Symbol Livestream also offers training for companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, helping them with branding and finding market opportunities.

He added that the cultivation of qualified livestreaming professionals requires more exchanges among the industry's insiders.

For this purpose, Symbol Livestream hosted a forum on livestreaming e-commerce in Taiyuan in July.

"This was the first livestreaming e-commerce forum in Shanxi aiming to offer a networking opportunity for insiders and a matching venue among suppliers and livestreaming platforms," Wang Kun said.

Amid the rapid growth of the livestreaming industry, regulators in Shanxi have another concern.

Tian Xin, head of e-commerce at the Shanxi Department of Commerce, said the authorities are focusing on developing a healthy regulative environment for the market.

"After studying the industry in Shanxi and the rest of the country, we identified promoting fake and low-quality products, and releasing untrue, illegal and immoral information as the major problems in livestreaming practices," Tian said.

He noted that provinces like Zhejiang have pioneered in issuing regulations for the industry, clarifying the responsibilities and accountabilities of platforms, product suppliers and livestreaming hosts.

"We will learn from these pioneers and establish our own regulatory framework in Shanxi," Tian said.

Guo Yanjie contributed to this story.