Food delivery rider and poet Wang Jibing has been awarded the Lu Xun Literary Prize, one of China’s most prestigious literary honors, for his poetry collection “Low Flight.” The prize, announced on July 15 during its ninth edition, recognized 35 works across seven categories; established in 1996 in memory of the eponymouseponymous/ɪˈpɒn.ɪ.məs/L3以某人名字命名的；与作品同名的relating to a person after whom something is named or thought to be named. writer, it is conferredconferred/kənˈfɜːd/L3授予；颁给（荣誉、学位、权利等）granted or bestowed officially, especially an honor or degree. every four years. Wang, a 57-year-old from Jiangsu province, has logged over 150,000 kilometers on the road since becoming a delivery rider in 2019 in Kunshan city, composing more than 6,000 poems inspired by his quotidianquotidian/kwəʊˈtɪd.i.ən/L3日常的；平凡的；司空见惯的occurring every day; ordinary and mundane. experiences. His dual existence—a rider by day and a poet by night—has come to symbolize a broader phenomenon: the increasing recognition of grassroots writers in China.
This cohort of worker-writers includes former miner Chen Nianxi, whose poetry and nonfiction chronicle the lives of Chinese laborers; Yu Xiuhua, a former farmer whose unflinching verses examine love, desire, and life with cerebral palsy; and Hu Anyan, a former courier whose book “I Deliver Parcels in Beijing” details the vicissitudesvicissitudes/vɪˈsɪs.ɪ.tjuːdz/L3变迁；兴衰；人生的起伏变化changes in circumstances or fortune, often unwelcome or difficult. of gig-economy employment. The Picun Literature Group, a collective of migrant worker writers based on Beijing’s periphery, further exemplifies this trend; in 2017, member Fan Yusu’s autobiography “I Am Fan Yusu” became a nationwide sensation. Wang himself has acknowledged that the reception of his work is often colored by his identity: “People automatically see your writing as coming from the bottom of society,” he told domestic media, adding that he receives praise cautiously, recognizing that much of it stems from sympathy rather than purely literary merit.
“Low Flight,” Wang’s third published collection, involved interviews with over 140 delivery riders, undertaken with the aspiration that readers “would better understand the challenges they face.” The poet, who dropped out of middle school and worked as a construction laborer and trash collector before taking up delivery, now runs a small grocery store with his wife and is a father of three. He has characterized the shifting literary landscape as a democratizationdemocratization/dɪˌmɒk.rə.taɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/L3民主化；大众化；普及化the process of making something accessible to everyone, especially in cultural or social contexts.: “Literature used to be like a pyramid, with everyone’s attention fixed on the few people at the top. Now it’s turning its focus to the base, giving voice to the silent majority.” An English translation of “Low Flight” is slated for publication by U.S.-based Chax Press this December, potentially expanding his readership beyond China’s borders.
