People in a hurry

The author of this book, Wang Jibing, is a delivery driver. He has covered a cumulative distance of 150,000 kilometers, equivalent to running 15 round trips along the Great Wall. During his days traversing the city, he saw many others like him struggling for survival: delivery drivers, migrant workers, cleaners, and nannies. They hustle and bustle in a hurried and flustered manner, yet they lose their identities: unable to find a foothold in the city, while their hometowns and parents become increasingly distant. Like an itinerant poet from the bottom rung of Chinese society, Wang Jibing records his own struggles and theirs, as well as their dignity as laborers. He writes: "I too have my own independent kingdom; my boiling blood is my ceaseless river, and my rugged, thin bones are my towering mountains." These poems, written on cigarette packs and waste newspapers in the gaps between rushing, are folk songs from the labor現場, vibrant, raw, and incisive. Some were accidentally shared online, triggering unexpected resonance, with a single poem reaching over 20 million views. This book is his first collection of poetry to be published.