Hu Anyan’s online essays about his time in a logistics warehouse garnered attention from editors who suggested he write more, about couriering and about working in a Shanghai bicycle shop.

I Deliver Parcels in Beijing: On Making a Living
HU ANYAN

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Hu Anyan’s story reminds you how hard it is to do any hard work. His job in China’s largest logistics warehouse was gruelling – lifting and sorting great bags of parcels on a cement pier in a hangar – but also capsized his daily life. The shifts for “D Company” started at 7 p.m., with a half-hour break for dinner about two hours later, and then non-stop until 7 a.m. If he ate too soon before his shift, he wouldn’t be hungry for dinner and would expire during the morning hours. If he couldn’t get to sleep in his airless room by early afternoon, anxiety about the coming night’s exhaustion would keep him awake. He resorted to knocking off Erguotou liquor and reading as a soporific, and left after 10 months.

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