Award-winning poet Wang Jibing continues delivering food, finding poetry in everyday life

(ECNS) — Wang Jibing, a food delivery rider whose poetry collection won the Lu Xun Literature Prize in 2026, said he will keep writing about life. "No matter what path my life takes, I remain deeply enamored with the warmth and vitality of existence, and will keep writing about life with my pen," he told a readers' event in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, on Sunday.

Born in 1969 in Pizhou, in the Jiangsu city of Xuzhou, Wang worked as a construction laborer and waste collector after dropping out of junior high school. He once saved up to open a rental bookstore, but the business folded after just over a year.

At 50, he became a food delivery rider to support his family. He is the oldest courier at his delivery station.

"The word 'endure' does not appear in my life dictionary," Wang said. Even when he was homeless and survived by picking through discarded items, he did not see himself merely enduring hardship. His pen name, Shihuang, meaning "scavenger," comes from that chapter of his life.

As a teenager, Wang wrote in a notebook that he wanted to become a great writer. His short stories began appearing in literary magazines in 1992. Although his family did not support his writing, he continued to pursue it quietly.

"When you love something, you don't need to force yourself to persevere. It would take far more resolve to give up writing," he said.

In 2022, he rose to public fame with his poem "People in a Hurry." The work drew more than 27 million views, earning him the moniker "delivery rider poet."

He likens writing to tending a cotton field: words are cotton he picks and offers to readers, bringing them softness and warmth. His award-winning poetry collection "Low Flight" was written partly to foster greater understanding of delivery workers and curb harsh judgment toward their work.

The award brought him further attention, but online reactions to his work have been divided. Wang said he stays calm amid the controversy, comparing himself to a rock by the sea: "The stronger the waves, the more thoroughly they wash me clean."

Wang embraces the title of "delivery rider poet," saying the support he had received from people across society had encouraged him to continue giving a voice to workers in new forms of employment, including delivery riders.

"My life is like a quiet, flowing river. Where life places a cliff, I make a waterfall; where it puts rocks in my path, I calmly find a way around them," he said.

(By Zhang Dongfang)