Kuaishou, China’s second largest short video platform, will soon restore the accessibility of Taobao products in Kuaishou livestream rooms and shopping pages, according to ChinaStarMarket news quoting people familiar with the matter. The change is expected to take place between October 28 and October 31, two weeks ahead of China’s annual shopping festival - the double 11 (November 11).On March 1 this year, Kuaishou blocked the access of Taobao links on its platform. The move was seen as a signal for Kuaishou’s expansion in the e-commerce sector, following the footsteps of Douyin, TikTok’s sister app, which blocked external shopping links as early as October 2020.Since last year’s double 11, the e-commerce landscape in China has changed drastically. New Oriental, the former K-12 education giant, has launched its livestream shopping business on Douyin, and received phenomenal success - their account currently has over 27 million followers, and is known for the funny yet informative livestream style. Austin Li Jiaqi, China’s “lipstick king”, quit Taobao briefly and made a comeback recently. Luo Yonghao, a tech entrepreneur and top livestream host on Douyin, is said to shift from Douyin to Taobao for this year’s Double 11.Taobao is gearing up to tame the rapid growth of Douyin’s e-commerce business, while Kuaishou’s access will be a powerful addition to Taobao’s force. According to Kuaishou’s Q2 earnings report, the average daily active users of Kuaishou reached 347 million, an increase of 18.5%; the total amount of Kuaishou’s e-commerce transactions reached 191.2 billion yuan, an increase of 31.5%. Kuaishou’s livestream revenue reached 8.6 billion yuan, an increase of 19.1%.The link-blocking behavior is often referred to as China’s internet giants building “walled gardens”. By blocking links from potential rival platforms, Chinese internet companies are able to trap users within their own ecosystems and further profit off the traffic.