About the book: I Deliver Parcels in Beijing (2025) is an authentic and humorous first person account of one worker’s daily life in the huge system that is the Chinese gig economy. The system could crush you unless you, as the author, have a slightly philosophical look on everyday life.
In 2023, I Deliver Parcels in Beijing became a literary sensation of the year in China. The story of a worker doing odd jobs in various anonymous mega-cities, Hu AnYan’s voice hit a nerve with a generation of young Chinese who feel at odds with an ever growing pressure to perform and succeed.
Hu started posting essays about his experiences online during COVID lockdowns. His recollection of night shifts in a huge logistics center in the South of China went nights so hot that even drinking three liters of water does not require a toilet break; colleagues going for KTV instead of trying to get a few hours' sleep; where are the affordable rooms with proper air conditioning, and what is the best amount of alcohol in order to sleep but not feel drowsy a few hours later?
The work is brutal, and there is no real sense of future in sight. But Hu is armed with a deadpan sense of humour and a strong idea of self, he moves on when he feels from logistics in the South to delivering parcels in Beijing, over to other odd jobs, all the while also discovering the power of reading and writing.
I Deliver Parcels in Beijing is a bestseller in China in 2023 with over 160, 000 copies sold, 400,000 ebooks read, and 1,360,000 audio versions downloaded. Also sold for local publications in 15 territories. It will be released on 28 October 2025 and is available for pre-order now.
The book is a unique first person portrait of a society we never hear from but everyone has opinions about and benefits from. Quietly radical, brimming with humanity and humour, this book asks: what does work really mean? What should it mean? And do any of us really know how to live?
I Deliver Parcels in Beijing is translated from the Mandarin by Jack Hargreaves.
About the author: Hu AnYan was born in Guangzhou, China, in 1979. After graduating from secondary school he joined the workforce, moving between cities and odd jobs to make a living. In 2020, a blog post based on his experience as a delivery driver in Beijing went viral, leading to the publication of his first book, I Deliver Parcels in Beijing (Insight Media, 2023). It has since become a major national bestseller in China and will be translated into fifteen languages.
About the translator: Jack Hargreaves is a Chinese-English translator. He has translated work by such writers as Li Juan, Lu Xiaoyu, Chai Jing, Shen Dacheng, Gu Qian, Wen Zhen and Chen Chuncheng, among others.
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