Wang Jibing is a 55-year-old deliveryman who leads a normal working life in the Jiangsu Province city of Kunshan, halfway between Shanghai and Suzhou in East China.
But he delivers more than meals.
Under the pen name "Shihuang," Wang is a prolific poet, with over 5,000 to his name to date.
This is one of the 5,000, "The People Chasing After Time," which gained widespread attention on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo social media site.
The People Chasing After Time
The wind is chased out from the air
Knives are chased out from the wind
Fire is chased out from the bones
Water is chased out from the fire
The people chasing after time have no seasons
Only one station and the next
The world is just a place name
So is Wangzhuang Village
Every day I encounter
Deliverymen sprinting one by one
Their feet pounding the earth
Tempering themselves ceaselessly in this world
The words are rhythmic and metaphorical, brimming with the power of life, offering a profile of his own life with a moving candor.
"Delivering meals is my livelihood, but it's through poetry that I truly express myself," says Wang.
Finding solace in words
Wang, known online as "the deliveryman poet," was not always a revered bard.
He began adult life in 1988 as a construction worker, then a sand dredger, a street vendor and – his lowest point – a waste collector.
One day after a hard day's night, Wang noticed a book at a roadside used book stall, picked it up and began reading. The words transported him.
Browsing the stall soon became a daily work routine. He turned to literary creation as a respite from his exhausting life.
"Literature was my salvation," Wang says. "It reshaped my view on life and transformed me from a restless youth to someone more serene and accepting."
Wang at first focused on writing a great novel.
He read his works aloud with no one around, often becoming so engrossed that he would dance with excitement.
But not everyone was impressed with the country boy's new obsession.
Concerned about his son's health, Wang's father destroyed all the manuscripts and forbade him from writing. The incident prompted Wang to strike a better balance between his passion for writing and his responsibilities to his family.
"Writing remains an essential part of my life," he says, "but my hobbies must align with my life and I should always prioritize my family. "That's my rule."
Nonetheless, Wang continued to write in secret for two and a half decades.
It wasn't until 2009 when he acquired a computer that he began transcribing his thoughts into logs, with his wife Guo Yiyun's assistance.
An internet user stumbled on his logs and marveled at the raw talent, recommending Wang seek out poetry forums. Wang took his advice and was introduced to fellow poets with whom he could discuss literature and share his poetry.
Wang now wrote quickly, one captivating poem after another. The words shimmer with rich life experience. Wang is now fully committed to poetry for its brevity and conciseness.
Plus poetry is more convenient for recording, he says, and its elegant, simpler language better fits his current state of mind.
And with his first literary award coming in 2019, Wang finally gained acceptance from his father, wife and three children.
Deliveryman poet
His experiences as a deliveryman inform Wang's art.
"This job has introduced me to a new way of life," he says. "It has allowed me to interact with people whose lives largely differ from my own, challenging my preconceptions about society and broadening my writing horizons."
Despite the often-fraught relations between delivery riders, customers and security guards, Wang retains faith in the inherent goodness of society.
As evidence, he cites a late delivery he made after a nasty accident. Knocking at the customer's door, Wang feared the worst. But when the customer saw his muddy, torn pants, the penalty was waived.
Security guards, archenemies of the speedy deliveryman, also exhibit understanding. They often direct him through unfamiliar neighborhoods, Wang says.
In his new anthology Flying Low, Wang pleads for a better understanding of the delivery rider, elevates the civilized behavior of the customer and elicits empathy and understanding for a shared humanity.
He left his simple rural home in Pizhou, East China's Jiangsu Province. Today as a delivery rider in Kunshan, he lives and breathes the daily heartbeat of the city.
As a poet, he captures fleeting urban moments with a sincere soliloquy.
"I'm fortunate to be enveloped by society's warmth and kindness,” he says in a soft, calm voice. “Persistence, serendipity, gratitude: These are the pillars of my life all the time."
(Produced by Lin Rui, He Chen, Zhang Sheng, Liu Xingtong, Guo Yue and Liao Jiaxin; Video material from CCTV, CGTN and Chinanews)