Entertainment · Books & Arts · 4 hrs ago
Chinese delivery workers and factory migrants turn work into bestselling books
Chinese delivery workers, factory laborers and migrants are writing about their working lives in books that have found readers at home and abroad.
The stories span the shift from factory work to app-based jobs, reflecting changes in China’s economy.
Hu Anyan worked 19 jobs across six cities before writing about logistics work; his 2023 book, *I Deliver Parcels in Beijing*, has sold more than two million copies.
His account describes long hours, low pay, constant pressure and insecure work behind China’s vast online shopping and delivery system.
Poet and food courier Wang Jibing writes about app-driven delivery work, including deadlines, penalties and customer complaints.
His books have sold tens of thousands of copies, and he won the Lu Xun Literary Prize in 2026 for *Low Flight*, after interviewing more than 140 couriers.
Earlier migrant workers wrote about factory life, including Xiao Hai, who spent 14 years in textile and electronics factories after moving to Shenzhen at age 15.
Together, these books bring workers’ experiences into public view as China’s economy changes.
Chinese delivery workers and factory migrants are turning their work experiences into books that have gained wide readership.
Hu Anyan’s book about logistics work has sold more than two million copies.
Delivery worker and poet Wang Jibing’s books have sold tens of thousands of copies, and he won the Lu Xun Literary Prize in 2026.
The writing describes difficult working conditions, including long hours, low pay, delivery pressure and instability.
The trend also includes migrant factory workers whose writing predates the rise of delivery apps.
- Who
- Chinese delivery workers, factory workers and migrants, including Hu Anyan, Wang Jibing and Xiao Hai.
- What
- They are writing books and poetry about their work experiences, with some works becoming bestsellers.
- When
- Hu’s book was published in 2023; Wang’s books appeared in 2022 and 2023, and he won a literary prize in 2026.
- Where
- China, including Beijing, Shenzhen and the logistics and factory workplaces described in the books.
- Why
- The writers describe the realities of work in logistics, platform delivery and factories. Their writing records the experiences of workers behind China’s economic transformation.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Hu Anyan published an online account of his experience at a logistics center.
Wang Jibing published his first poetry collection, The Man in a Hurry.
Hu Anyan’s I Deliver Parcels in Beijing was published in China.
Wang Jibing published his second book, I Clumsily Love This World.
Wang Jibing won the Lu Xun Literary Prize for Low Flight.
Xiao Hai’s Sisyphus on the Wenyu River was published in Beijing.
- Hu Anyan’s book sales
- More than 2 million copies
- The Man in a Hurry
- More than 100,000 copies distributed after reprints
- I Clumsily Love This World
- More than 50,000 copies sold
- Wang Jibing’s interviews
- More than 140 delivery workers
- China express parcels in 2025
- 198.95 billion
- Online retail sales in 2025
- 15.97 trillion yuan
What people are saying
Our country has an advanced e-commerce logistics network, but that progress comes at the cost of workers at the bottom of the industry.
Not all wings can fly high. Flying low is also flying.