In the past 20 years， Hu Anyan has traveled to Guangdong， Guangxi， Yunnan， Shanghai， Beijing， and other places， working as a courier， night shift picker， convenience store clerk， and more. In his later recollections， he turned the bits and pieces of work and daily hardships into sincere self-reports， recording the hard work， grind， warmth， and righteousness of an ordinary person in life.

Hu Anyan

Hu Anyan is a migrant worker and writer. In the past ten years， he has traveled to Guangdong， Guangxi， Yunnan， Shanghai， Beijing and other places， and now lives in Chengdu. In his early years， he worked as a security guard， bakery apprentice， convenience store clerk， bicycle shop salesman， online store staff， etc. In recent years， he worked as a night picker in a logistics company in Guangdong， and then worked as a courier in Beijing for two years. Since 2020， he has been unemployed at home.

The freight transit center is like a huge dock. We work on a one-meter-high cement platform， which we call the sorting area. The sorting area is about the size of eight to ten football fields， covered by a massive corrugated iron roof， surrounded by numbered loading and unloading docks. Rows of trucks back up to the platform， opening their cargo doors to load and unload goods. At night， upon entering the sorting area， you can immediately hear a continuous， rumbling sound， deep and resonant， like distant thunder. Its the sound of hundreds of forklifts rolling over the ground. These forklifts are like worker ants， delivering the parcels unloaded from the trucks to different sorting groups and then delivering the sorted ones to the corresponding loading docks.

I was assigned to the small parcel sorting group， whose job was to sort and pack the parcels according to their destinations. I liked this job， although not all aspects of it： it didnt require talking to people or thinking， just rolling up your sleeves and doing it. Because it was in Guangdong， where there were nine months of summer in a year， the sun would heat up the iron roof above during the day， and it wouldnt cool down much at night. Usually， about an hour after starting work， I would be drenched in sweat until the next morning. Later， I bought a three-liter water bottle and drank a full bottle every night. I tried not to urinate all night， and the water was all drained through my sweat glands.

For the three days of trial work， I was arranged to dump the packages， which was the most exhausting position in our group. The parcels sent by the business outlets were tied up with fiber bags， and our group had to open them， sort the parcels according to their destinations， and then repackage them. Dumping the packages meant breaking open the packages sent by the business outlets and dumping the parcels inside onto the sorting platform. Those packages varied in weight; some were a few pounds， and some were fifty or sixty pounds. If it was only for two or three hours， most people could handle it， but dumping non-stop for a whole night was very tiring， and some people couldnt take it. This position was also the only one in the group that didnt allow female workers.

All the male workers who came to our group for trial work would be arranged to dump the packages， while the female workers would go to pack them. Only in the most intensive positions could both sides clearly see whether they were suitable for each other， reducing the likelihood of a quick separation after not working together for a long time because of misunderstanding. In fact， the few days of trial work were the most tiring because the body hadnt adapted to the unfamiliar work mode and intensity， and the unfamiliarity of the movements also caused excess physical exhausion， which was also the reason why many people left after two hours. But as long as you hold on and work for a long time， you will gradually adapt and feel less tired.

I remember once a big sister came to try the work. She had no problem with it， but she left suddenly in the middle of the night. Later， I heard that she was illiterate and was persuaded to quit by the group leader. I dont think she was completely illiterate; otherwise， she wouldnt have made no mistakes in the several hours she worked. Maybe she only knew a limited number of characters and had to ask others frequently， which made the colleague train her increasingly worried， which finally led to her notifying the group leader. Once she put the wrong label， the whole package of parcels would be sent to the wrong city， and our whole group would be deducted money.

I heard early on that S Company had a good reputation and was the “Haidilao of the express industry.” Z Supervisor often asked us at meetings to offer to help the customers take away the garbage when delivering the parcels. I found myself unable to make such a request， and I never asked anyone for garbage. If a customer asked me to help， I would be happy to oblige， but I only met one such customer. Z Supervisor also asked us， after sending out the parcels， to ask the customers to give us a five-star rating. The site also made a statistics table on the wall， updating the number of good ratings we received every day， and those who ranked low would be singled out at the meeting.

At that time， this really made me miserable， and I lived in anxiety every day. On the one hand， I was afraid that I would rank behind， and on the other hand， I couldnt speak to the customers. So， every day after work， I would edit text messages on my phone and send them to the customers I served that day， asking them to give me a good rating. I specifically picked those customers who were especially polite and enthusiastic to me and excluded the elderly because the elderly wanted to help me but didnt know how to operate their phones. I sent about twenty or thirty text messages every day. For me， expressing myself in writing was much easier than face-to-face verbal communication.

Often， customers would praise me in person and also praise， “S Companys service is good， unlike those other express companies.” This always made me feel embarrassed because I always admired “those other express companies” --  they just delivered parcels without having to attend meetings in the morning and evening， or do things like throwing away garbage and getting good ratings， or being complained about at any time.

The last days at Pinjun Express were easy， and the pressure from work seemed to disappear completely， and I was no longer in a hurry when I worked. In the morning， after we loaded the car， we even chatted for a while before leaving. For more than a year before that， I delivered parcels every day according to a fixed route -- Xincheng Sunshine， Sunwangchang， Jinchengfu， Yulanwan， Jingtong Roosevelt Plaza， Jincheng Center， Carrefour， Ruidu International Center， Ruidu International North District， Ruidu International South District， Hongxiang 1979 Cultural and Creative Park， Donglang Film and Television Industry Park， Flagship Triumph， Haitong Wutong Garden -- this was the most reasonable and efficient order for me. Sometimes， if I didnt follow this order， I couldnt finish the work of the day.

But now I can try to go the other way around， although it would take more time， and even skip some places in the middle -- if I went the other way around， the customers at the two industrial parks would not have gone to work yet -- and then go back. My time suddenly became abundant， like a poor wretch who was looked down upon by others and became rich overnight， I could revengefully enjoy the luxury of wasting time. Because I had been oppressed by the so-called time pressure for a long time， my time had always been tight， just like my nerves， and I could only cope with the work by making do. It was then that I realized that I had never seen Haitong Wutong Garden and Flagship Triumph community at eight or nine oclock in the morning， and I had been working in these places for more than a year. Now， the time I arrived at each place was different from the original rigid rule， and what I saw and felt was different as a result. In fact， I found myself looking at this job with a completely new perspective -- this was not only about changing habits， or the corresponding changes of time and space， but also， for example， without any purpose， from an angle that I had never tried before because of anxiety and impatience --  I no longer saw myself as a delivery machine with an hourly wage of 30 yuan， who would get angry and frustrated if I didnt reach the rated output value.

I Deliver Parcels in Beijing

Hu Anyan

Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House

April 2023

56.00 （CNY）