Recently, the streets and alleys of Suqian were ignited by one piece of news - "Da Qiangzi" has returned home.

To welcome this business magnate who emerged from Suqian, local residents shared videos on social media showing street cleaning trucks washing the roads, commenting that it had been a long time since sanitation efforts were this extensive, and that Liu Qiangdong's return warranted welcoming "Da Qiangzi" with clean and fresh surroundings.

Over the past 48 hours, Liu Qiangdong's every move in Suqian has drawn attention and frequently topped trending topics.

On August 29, accompanied by JD.com CEO Xu Ran and other senior executives, he inspected the "JD Discount Supermarket" set to open the following day, smiling and interacting warmly with fellow townspeople. That night, he appeared at a night market food stall, drinking beer and eating barbecue until the early hours, attracting continuous online "live streaming" coverage.

On August 30, four JD Discount Supermarkets opened simultaneously, with Suqian residents forming long queues even in the rain, creating a phenomenal opening scene. That evening, Liu Qiangdong appeared at the Jiangsu Super League stadium, cheering for the Suqian team, with the venue filled with JD.com elements, pushing the atmosphere of this "billionaire CEO's" hometown visit to its climax.

When familiar local dialect, night market beer, and trending traffic became deeply connected with the newly opened "JD Discount Supermarket," Liu Qiangdong's hometown visit represents both a son's heartfelt gratitude to his homeland and a strategic move by the tech giant to penetrate lower-tier markets.

"Suqian Native" Liu Qiangdong: Drinking at Food Stalls, Cheering at Super League Matches

On August 29, JD.com Group founder Liu Qiangdong appeared in Suqian at the soon-to-open JD Discount Supermarket. Multiple netizens shared photos of their encounters on social media, showing Liu Qiangdong with a smile, warmly greeting his hometown people, appearing to be in good spirits.

After a busy day of work, on the night of the 29th, netizens spotted Liu Qiangdong at a Suqian night market food stall - he was holding a disposable plastic bowl, frequently toasting with surrounding locals, his face flushed from rounds of drinks, maintaining a smile throughout and chatting enthusiastically with everyone in the local dialect.

In videos shared by netizens, Liu Qiangdong not only posed arm-in-arm with locals but even made funny faces at the camera. When someone shouted "Wishing Brother Dong good health," Liu Qiangdong directly responded "Good! Thank you!"

A photographer told media, "Very down-to-earth, no airs at all, and using disposable plastic bowls without any pretense. He truly proved through his actions that he considers all Suqian people as family." Netizens commented, "Plastic bowls and local liquor, which other business leader could do this?" "In thousands of years, Suqian has produced two notable figures: one is Xiang Yu, the other is Brother Dong."

On the evening of the 30th, Liu Qiangdong, wearing a white T-shirt and holding beer, appeared at the Jiangsu Super League stadium, cheering for his hometown Suqian team. During the 2025 Summer Davos Forum, when asked by Sina Finance whether he would attend the Super League, Liu Qiangdong replied: "Yes, absolutely!"

On June 13, JD.com signed an agreement with Jiangsu Sports Industry Group, officially becoming the Jiangsu Super League's official strategic partner. Both parties will conduct comprehensive deep cooperation in event marketing, cultural entertainment, public fitness, promotional broadcasting, and customized competitions.

On June 20, JD.com announced a strategic partnership with Jiangsu Super League's Suqian team, becoming the team's top-tier strategic partner.

According to media reports, the August 30 evening Super League match was filled with JD.com elements. Before kickoff, a parade performance featuring JD.com procurement teams, delivery staff, and takeout delivery teams appeared.

Due to Liu Qiangdong's presence, the audience chanted "Brother Dong, Brother Dong" throughout the entire football stadium. In netizen-filmed videos, when the Suqian team scored, Liu Qiangdong excitedly jumped along with the crowd's rhythm. Ultimately, the Suqian team won with a "2:0" score.

Promoting "JD Discount Supermarket," Launching New Round of "Lower-Tier Market" Competition

Liu Qiangdong's high-profile hometown return is both a deeply emotional "return in glory" and a crucial strategic move in JD.com's market penetration strategy - Suqian is becoming a "demonstration field" and "training ground" for its new retail formats.

On August 30, four JD Discount Supermarkets opened simultaneously in Suqian, with Liu Qiangdong personally promoting them. JD Discount Supermarket is China's first large-scale discount supermarket format. Unlike traditional discount supermarkets, JD Discount Supermarket leverages JD.com's supply chain advantages, adopting a "large store, multi-SKU" operational model, bringing together daily necessities, fresh food, fast-moving consumer goods, alcoholic beverages, and various other categories.

According to introductions, JD.com's four JD Discount Supermarkets in Suqian all feature stores exceeding 5,000 square meters with over 5,000 SKUs, larger than the Zhuozhou store. The four stores are located at Hope City in the Economic Development Zone, Shuyang Central Mall, Sihong Wuyue Plaza, and Siyang Sunshine Plaza, all local commercial landmarks or backed by densely populated residential areas.

Social media posts from Suqian residents shared that on the discount stores' opening day, despite continuous rainfall, citizens still queued outside with umbrellas waiting to enter, with all four stores implementing crowd control measures from their 9 AM opening.

Moreover, this massive queuing situation continued until late night, lasting until the natural closing time of 12:30 AM. Netizens commented, "Too many people, felt like Chinese New Year." However, some netizens also expressed, "Really too crowded, waited in line for two hours only to find many items were sold out."

JD.com disclosed data showing single-day cumulative visitors exceeded 300,000, attracting foot traffic to the malls that was 3-4 times higher than usual. Suqian residents' consumption enthusiasm also drove first-day sales far beyond expectations, with multiple products sold out completely, setting a new first-day sales record for JD.com's discount format.

Currently, JD.com has not indicated how many discount supermarkets it plans to open. When inquired by Sina Finance, JD.com's official customer service responded, "Opening plans for other regions have not been announced yet."

In fact, since this year, JD.com has been accelerating its offline business and lower-tier market expansion with unprecedented speed and determination. In May, its home appliance and furniture one-stop consumer brand JD Mall successively opened in Nanjing and Beijing. On June 18, JD.com's first restaurant infrastructure entity, 7Fresh Food Mall's first national store, officially opened in Harbin. Behind this, JD.com is strengthening its supply chain system while connecting with instant retail business to further expand its retail business market territory.