Wang Jibing, a waimai rider and author of 'Flying Low,' received the Poetry Prize at the 9th Lu Xun Literature Awards. He interviewed over 140 fellow riders for the collection and has published nearly 6,000 poems. His work has been translated into Italian.
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By Rachel Wu
"Who says spreading your wings means flying high?
Flying low is still flight."
Those lines open Flying Low (低处飞行), the poetry collection by Wang Jibing, a waimai (food-delivery) rider who has just received the Poetry Prize at the Ninth Lu Xun Literature Awards, one of China's highest literary honors.
Image via WeChat@CCTV News
Wang's journey to the award was anything but conventional.
Born in 1969, he worked as a construction laborer, street vendor, and recycler—before becoming a waimai rider in 2019.
Between deliveries, he was writing.
Today, he has published four poetry collections and nearly 6,000 poems, with The People in a Hurry (赶时间的人) first bringing him national attention in 2022.
Image via Pexels
To write Flying Low, Wang set himself the goal of understanding the people running alongside him.
A self-described introvert, he first handed out questionnaires to fellow riders.
When the responses proved surprisingly similar, he began approaching them one by one instead.
Over time, he interviewed more than 140 waimai riders—including one top earner, a one-armed courier who raced up stairwells—and a growing number of women joining the profession.
The conversations, he later said, gradually softened his heart and broadened his view of the world.
One encounter stayed with him.
During the industry's quieter hours one afternoon, Wang arrived at a small restaurant to collect an order and found the owner asleep in a corner, her young child curled up in her arms.
He carefully picked up the takeaway and backed out without waking them.
The scene later became the poem At Three in the Afternoon, which was translated into Italian by Martina Benigni, introducing his work to readers overseas.
Image via Chinanews.com.cn
For millions of people in China, waimai riders weave through the city almost unnoticed.
Wang's poems collect the moments they pass every day, drawn from apartment corridors, restaurant kitchens, elevators, and street corners—the countless small scenes that rarely stay in view for long.
[Cover image via Pexels]
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