Food delivery rider wins China's top literary prize

What the report says

BBC World News reported that Wang Jibing, a 56-year-old food delivery rider in China, has won the Lu Xun Literary Prize for “Low Flight,” a poetry collection shaped by the daily experiences of delivery workers. The prize, named for the influential modern Chinese writer Lu Xun, is among the country’s major literary honours. Wang’s poems were written over years, including during breaks from delivery work, and circulated on social media before he became widely known.

According to the BBC, Wang was born in Jiangsu province and left school as a teenager because of family financial difficulties. He later worked in a range of jobs, including construction, waste scavenging and street vending, before becoming a delivery rider around 2019. His poem “Man in a Hurry” attracted online attention in 2022 after drawing on a difficult delivery caused by an incorrect address, and his first collection was published in 2023.

The BBC said “Low Flight,” published in 2024, was based partly on Wang’s interviews and surveys with about 200 delivery riders. Wang told the state-run Global Times that the attention around the award had brought pressure, but he did not plan to stop delivery work and wanted to continue until age 60.

The award highlights growing interest in writing by blue-collar and migrant workers in China, whose books and essays have brought public attention to gig-economy pressures and social mobility concerns. The BBC cited other recent examples, including former courier Hu Anyan’s memoir “I Deliver Parcels in Beijing” and Fan Yusu’s widely read autobiographical essay.