On January 19 (PST), the short-video social media platform TikTok resumed its services in America. A day earlier, TikTok and several apps owned by its parent company, ByteDance, were unavailable in the U.S., sparking a wave of discussion on other social platforms. The hashtag #TikTok quickly trended, with many American users exclaiming, “Is my TikTok really gone?” and “Politicians act like our voices matter, but they clearly don’t care!”

For U.S. users, TikTok isn’t just about scrolling through short videos and entertainment. It’s also a platform for discovering products from influencers and place orders excitedly during livestreams. During the recent Black Friday in 2024, TikTok Shop’s U.S. payment GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) more than tripled compared to Black Friday 2023.

Many insiders see TikTok Shop and similar social commerce platforms as the next big wave in cross-border e-commerce.

Notably, a significant number of cross-border e-commerce players are based in Guangdong, China’s leading province for foreign trade. As of November 18, 2024, the number of cross-border e-commerce enterprises in Guangdong ranked first nationwide, accounting for 20.87% of the national total. For every five cross-border e-commerce companies in the country, one is from Guangdong.

From 2015 to 2023, the average annual growth rate of Guangdong's cross-border trade was a staggering 71.4%. Guangdong takes up more than one-third of the country's total in the sector.

In 2024, Guangdong's total import and export volume exceeded 9 trillion yuan, ranking first in China.

Decades ago, a generation of foreign traders create a golden era with their hard work and entrepreneurial spirit. Today, with new opportunities emerged, the new generation keeps on going amid market ups and downs because resilience is the essence of Guangdong’s trade business.

采访拍摄：赖镇桃

编辑：李艳霞

英文配音：李莹亮

视频编辑：柳润瑛，刘宇森

（实习生赵翊冰对本文亦有贡献）