Hardworking Delivery Rider Writes More Than 6,000 Poems & Publishes 4 Books On Poetry
He uses a pen, scraps of paper, and sometimes his palm.
By Sukhbir Cheema — 09 Jun 2025, 03:44 PM
For most people, waiting for the next job is downtime. For Wang Jibing, a delivery rider in China, it's when the poetry flows.
The 55-year-old food courier from Xuzhou, in China's Jiangsu province, has written more than 6,000 poems, scribbling verses on scrap paper or the palm of his hand as he waits outside restaurants.
According to Chinese news portal Dazhong, he was appointed vice director of the Xuzhou All People Reading Enhancement Association, a non-governmental group aiming to make books part of everyday life.
He was appointed to the role in early June.
Wang left school early due to poverty and cycled through jobs such as construction work, a food stall, collecting waste before becoming a courier in 2019. Still, he never stopped writing.
In 2022, a poem titled A Person in a Rush caught the attention of poet Chen Zhaohua, who shared it online.
The Internet responded. A year later, Wang received the Annual Poet Award from the Xuzhou Writers’ Association.
"As a man in a rush, he still uses sober, empathetic, and wise words to express the life value of a nobody in a calm way," wrote the awards committee.
Wang said thanks to poems, delivering food seems not so exhausting."I think I am not only couriering food, but also travelling through life," said Wang. "Poems are the sugar in my life."
Wang doesn't plan to stop delivering food
"The two roles will not conflict," he said.
His fifth poetry collection is due in July this year, with a non-fiction book about his mother out in August.
On Chinese social media, his persistence has struck a nerve. One user simply wrote: "What an encouraging story. I am touched by his poems."
Wang's books sell modestly, but his voice—quiet, grounded, and unshaken—resonates far beyond the page.
