This is the first part of the first chapter of the modern literary sensation, I Deliver Parcels in Beijing by Hu Anyan. I Deliver Parcels in Beijing came out in September 2025, and it became a cult classic within China. It has also been translated into English, and you can get it on Amazon. You can also read the first 5 chapters in Chinese online for free here.
I loved this book, but the entire time I was reading it, I kept thinking that it might only be interesting for anyone who’s been to a major Chinese city for more than a week or two. I say that because the book, which is mostly autobiographical, follows the author as he bounces from menial job to menial job as a gig worker in China’s platform economy, working for e-commerce companies, logistics firms, a gas station, retail, publishing, and all kinds of other companies big and small. If you’ve ever lived in a big Chinese city, you see these guys everywhere, and have probably wondered what their lives are like, and how they manage to navigate China’s employment system, so the book will answer those questions for you. But if you’ve never seen these guys, the book’s material is probably hard to connect with. There’s also not much action, no love story, and no hero’s quest. Instead, the story is very low key, as Hu Anyan describes each job, one after the other, and explains the pros and cons of each, the environment and people he met working at each, and why he quit each one. These stories pile up into a broad picture about the job market of the urban lower-middle class.
Chapter 1 of the book opens with a description of the author’s time working in a logistics warehouse sorting packages for an e-commerce company. He calls it “D物流公司” – I imagine that’s probably DHS, but Hu avoids naming the company explicitly, probably for legal reasons, though everyone knows who he means.
Key vocab
货运中转中心 – huò yùn zhōng zhuǎn zhōng xīn – freight transfer center
分拣 – fēn jiǎn – to sort (packages)
试工 – shì gōng – trial work period
叉车 – chā chē – forklift
汗流浃背 – hàn liú jiā bèi – to be drenched in sweat
盘缠 – pán chan5 – travel money/funds
孤僻 – gū pì – unsociable/introverted
扛不住 – káng bù zhù – cannot handle/bear
例会 – lì huì – regular meeting
物流夜班生存指南：一个理货员的真实记录
第1章 我在物流公司上夜班的一年
其实我在D物流公司就干了十个月多一些，还不到一年。我是2017年5月12日入职的，那天是汶川地震九周年。我在D公司的顺德某枢纽做理货员，那里是当时全国最大的一个货运中转中心。不过我是在离开后，才从网上了解到这一点的；当我还在那里上班时，虽然也为它的规模所震撼，但老实说，我没有心思去关心它能排第几大。
我们的货运中转中心在一个物流园里，那里除了D公司以外，还有京东、唯品会和百世快递等公司的货运中转中心。我上的是长夜班，每天晚上七点干到第二天早上七点，每个月休四天。那里几乎所有人都上长夜班，白天分拣场不运转。我干的这个活儿虽然不看学历，但也不招文盲，因为不能认字的话，就没法辨认货物标签上的地址。所以有些不认识字的老乡，就连这个工作也干不了了。
所谓的面试只是走走形式，实际情况是来者不拒，但入职前要无薪试工三天。这应该违反了《劳动法》，但我打听了一下，物流园里的企业都这样操作，假如你不能接受，就只能不干这个活儿了。
从实践来看，试工也确实有必要。初次干这活儿的人，很多其实并不知道具体要干什么、怎么干。试工是一个互相了解的机会。就我所见，试工后留下来的人还不到一半。有的人甚至试两个小时就走了。不过，公司应该给留下来的人补上那三天工资才对。
当然公司也有人性化的一面：很多从外地来打工的人，身上盘缠并不多，所以入职干满二十天后，公司会提前发放头半个月的工资，而正常应该是次月15日才发的。
货运中转中心就像一个大埠头，我们在一米高的水泥工作台上干活儿，这台子我们叫它分拣场。分拣场有八到十个足球场那么大，上面盖着巨型的铁皮顶棚，四周是编了号的一个个装卸货口，一排排货车屁股朝工作台停靠着，打开车厢门装卸货物。晚上登上分拣场，立即就能听见一阵延绵不绝的隆隆响声，低沉而浑厚，好像从远处传来的雷鸣，那是上百辆叉车碾轧地面时发出的声音。这些叉车就像工蚁，把从货车上卸下的快件送到各个组分拣，然后再把分拣好的货物送到对应的装车口。
我被分配到了小件分拣组，工作内容是把到站的快件按照目的地分拣、打包。我喜欢这份工作，虽然不是喜欢所有方面：它不用跟人说话，不用开动脑筋，撸起袖子干就行了。因为那是在广东，一年里有九个月是夏天，白天太阳把顶上的铁棚晒得发烫，晚上也凉快不了多少。一般上班后个把小时，我就已经汗流浃背，直到第二天早上。后来我买了一个三升的水壶，每晚喝掉满满一壶，试过整晚上没有小便，水都从汗腺排掉了。
试工的三天，我被安排去倒包，这是我们组里最累人的岗位。营业站点送来的快件是用纤维袋扎成包裹的，我们组要把这些包裹拆开，把快件按照目的地分拣，再重新打包起来。而倒包就是把营业站点送来的包裹破开，把里面的快件倒到分拣台上。那些包裹有轻有重，轻的几斤，重的五六十斤。如果只是倒两三个小时，大概多数人都可以应付，可是不停地倒一个晚上，对体力的消耗就很大，有些人就扛不住了；这个岗位也是组里唯一不让女工上的岗位。
所有到我们组来试工的男工，都会被安排去倒包，女工则去打包。只有在工作强度最大的岗位上，双方才能看清楚彼此是否适合，从而减少因为误解而产生的没合作多久就“分手”的情况。实际上试工的几天是最累人的，因为身体这时还没适应陌生的工作方式和强度，动作的生疏也会造成额外的体力浪费，这也是很多人试了两小时就走人的原因。但只要你扛下来，干久了，慢慢都会适应，感觉就没那么累了。我记得有次来了个大姐试工，干活儿没有问题，但到了半夜突然走掉了。后来我听说，她因为不识字，被组长劝退了。我觉得她不是完全的文盲，否则不可能干了几小时都没出错。可能是她认识的字有限，频繁地问人，导致带她的同事越来越害怕，最后通知了组长。因为一旦她贴错了标签，整包快件被发往错误的城市，我们整个组都要扣钱。
初次干这活儿的人，都会掉一些体重。我有一个同事，入职只比我晚几天，他在三个月内从一百八十几斤，掉到了一百三十几斤。我原本就不算胖，但干了几个月后，也掉了十几斤。
我们每天工作十二个小时，一般情况下，早上下班前的两个小时会相对慢下来，可以干一会儿歇一会儿，而从晚上十点到早上五点这段时间最忙，基本上一刻都不能停。具体是这样的：我们晚上七点上班，先干到九点，然后有半个小时吃饭时间。货场里有两个食堂，被不同的承包商承包，提供不同风格的食物。菜品是自己舀的，像自助餐一样，称重付费，米饭则无限供应。如果想省钱，可以少打点儿菜，多吃几碗饭。平心而论，饭堂的价格还算公道，而且比较卫生。吃完饭后，我们就从九点半一口气干到早上七点，连续九个半小时不再有进食时间。有些人会自带面包或饼干，半夜抽空往嘴里塞点儿。有些人就连着十个小时不吃东西，他们已经习惯了。我一般都带饼干，偶尔忘了带，肚子就饿得咕咕叫。
记得我试工的第一天，没人告诉我这些时间安排，我是吃了晚饭才去的。这导致九点大家去吃饭时，我根本就不饿，所以什么都没吃，我以为半夜还有机会去吃东西。万万没有想到，接下来从九点半开始，一直干到早上七点，其间我只喝过水，再没进食的机会。我又没带干粮，到了第二天早上，我已经饿得晕头转向了。
我发现在这地方干活儿的人，大多不喜欢交谈，完全不热情主动，就像沉默的老农民——虽然他们并没那么老——对陌生人报以冷淡和警惕的态度。恰好我也不喜欢攀交情，大家闭上嘴巴干活儿很好，在这种人际环境里我感觉很舒适。可是当我有事情向他们请教时，他们会先腼腆地笑笑，然后讪讪地回答——其实他们并不高傲，只是大多孤僻而已。
每天早上下班前，我们都要开个例会，由组长和经理发言，总结当天工作中发生的问题，一般两三分钟就讲完。晚上上班前也要开个短会，说一下注意事项或最近的工作要点，但都是些无聊的内容，几句话就讲完，我一般都不听，毕竟革命不是耍嘴皮子。
A Night Shift Survival Guide: The True Account of a Warehouse Sorter
Chapter 1: My Year Working the Night Shift at a Logistics Company
Actually, I only worked at D Logistics Company for a little over ten months, not quite a year. I started on May 12, 2017 – the ninth anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake. I worked as a sorter at one of D Company’s hubs in Shunde, which was the largest freight transfer center in the country at the time. However, I only learned this from the internet after I left. When I was still working there, although I was impressed by its scale, honestly, I wasn’t in the mood to care about how it ranked.
Our freight transfer center was located in a logistics park that housed not only D Company but also transfer centers for JD.com, Vipshop, Best Express, and other companies. I worked the long night shift, from 7 PM to 7 AM the next day, with four days off per month. Almost everyone there worked the long night shift – the sorting yard didn’t operate during the day. Although this job didn’t require any educational qualifications, they didn’t hire illiterate people either, because if you couldn’t read, you couldn’t identify the addresses on the package labels. So some folks from my hometown who couldn’t read couldn’t even get this job.
The so-called interview was just a formality. In reality, they accepted anyone who showed up, but you had to do three days of unpaid trial work before officially starting. This probably violated the Labor Law, but I asked around, and all the companies in the logistics park operated this way. If you couldn’t accept it, your only option was to not take the job.
From a practical standpoint, the trial period was indeed necessary. Many first-timers actually had no idea what the job entailed or how to do it. The trial was an opportunity for both sides to get to know each other. From what I saw, less than half of the people who tried out ended up staying. Some people left after just two hours. However, the company should have paid those who stayed for those three days.
Of course, the company did have a humane side: many migrant workers didn’t have much money on them, so after working for twenty days, the company would advance the first half-month’s wages early, whereas normally they wouldn’t be paid until the 15th of the following month.
The freight transfer center was like a massive dock. We worked on a one-meter-high concrete platform that we called the sorting yard. The sorting yard was as big as eight to ten football fields, covered by a giant corrugated metal roof. All around were numbered loading and unloading bays, with rows of trucks backed up against the platform, their cargo doors open for loading and unloading. When you stepped onto the sorting yard at night, you’d immediately hear an endless rumbling sound, deep and resonant, like distant thunder – that was the sound of over a hundred forklifts rolling across the ground. These forklifts were like worker ants, transporting packages unloaded from trucks to various groups for sorting, then delivering the sorted goods to their corresponding loading bays.
I was assigned to the small parcel sorting group. My job was to sort incoming packages by destination and pack them up. I liked this job, though not every aspect of it: you didn’t have to talk to anyone, didn’t have to use your brain – just roll up your sleeves and work. Since it was Guangdong, summer lasted nine months of the year. The sun would bake the metal roof during the day, and it didn’t cool down much at night. Usually, within an hour or so of starting work, I’d be drenched in sweat, and it would stay that way until the next morning. Later, I bought a three-liter water bottle and drank the whole thing every night. There were times I didn’t urinate the entire shift – all the water came out through my sweat glands.
During my three-day trial, I was assigned to bag dumping, the most exhausting position in our group. The packages sent from local service points came in fiber bags tied into bundles. Our group had to open these bundles, sort the packages by destination, and repack them. Bag dumping meant cutting open the bundles from the service points and dumping the packages onto the sorting table. These bundles varied in weight – some weighed just a few jin, others fifty or sixty jin. If you only had to dump for two or three hours, most people could handle it. But doing it non-stop for an entire night was extremely draining, and some people just couldn’t take it. This was also the only position in our group where women weren’t allowed.
All male workers who came to trial in our group were assigned to bag dumping; women went to packing. Only by working at the most demanding position could both sides clearly see whether they were a good fit, reducing the ‘breakups’ that happened shortly after starting due to misunderstandings. Actually, the trial days were the most exhausting because your body hadn’t yet adapted to the unfamiliar work style and intensity, and clumsy movements caused extra physical waste. This was why many people left after just two hours. But if you toughed it out, you’d gradually adapt and it wouldn’t feel so tiring anymore. I remember once a woman came for a trial. She worked fine, but suddenly left at midnight. Later I heard that she was let go by the team leader because she couldn’t read. I don’t think she was completely illiterate – otherwise she couldn’t have worked for several hours without making mistakes. Maybe she only knew a limited number of characters and kept asking people, which made the colleague training her increasingly nervous, until they finally notified the team leader. Because if she put the wrong label on something and a whole bag of packages got sent to the wrong city, our entire group would have money deducted.
Everyone new to this job loses some weight. I had a coworker who started just a few days after me. In three months, he went from over 180 jin to around 130 jin. I wasn’t fat to begin with, but after a few months, I’d also lost over ten jin.
We worked twelve hours a day. Usually, the two hours before clocking out in the morning would slow down a bit – you could work a while, rest a while. But from 10 PM to 5 AM was the busiest time, when you basically couldn’t stop for a second. Here’s how it worked: we started at 7 PM and worked until 9 PM, then had a half-hour meal break. There were two cafeterias in the freight yard, run by different contractors offering different styles of food. You scooped the dishes yourself, like a buffet, and paid by weight. Rice was unlimited. If you wanted to save money, you could take less dishes and eat more rice. To be fair, the cafeteria prices were reasonable, and it was pretty hygienic. After eating, we’d work straight from 9:30 PM to 7 AM – nine and a half consecutive hours with no more meal breaks. Some people brought their own bread or crackers to sneak bites during the night. Others went ten hours without eating anything – they were used to it. I usually brought crackers, but occasionally forgot, and my stomach would growl with hunger.
I remember on my first day of trial, nobody told me about this schedule. I ate dinner before going in. So when everyone went to eat at 9 PM, I wasn’t hungry at all and didn’t eat anything. I thought there’d be another chance to eat around midnight. Little did I know, from 9:30 PM onwards, we worked straight through until 7 AM, during which I only drank water and had no chance to eat. I hadn’t brought any food, and by the next morning, I was so hungry I was dizzy.
I noticed that most people working here didn’t like to chat. They weren’t friendly or proactive at all, like silent old farmers – though they weren’t that old – treating strangers with indifference and wariness. Fortunately, I didn’t like making small talk either. Everyone keeping their mouths shut and working was fine with me; I felt comfortable in this kind of social environment. But when I needed to ask them about something, they would first smile shyly, then answer awkwardly – they weren’t actually arrogant, just mostly introverted.
Every morning before clocking out, we’d have a brief meeting where the team leader and manager would speak, summarizing problems from that day’s work. It usually took just two or three minutes. Before the night shift started, we’d also have a short meeting about precautions or recent work priorities, but it was all boring stuff that could be said in a few sentences. I usually didn’t listen – after all, revolution isn’t about running your mouth.
