Hu Anyan’s book chronicles his 20-year experience in 19 low-wage jobs in Beijing, blending humor and detailed observations on survival’s absurdities and harsh realities while navigating a challenging urban landscape.

Key Points

• Hu Anyan’s book, I Deliver Parcels in Beijing, details his 20-year experience across 19 low-wage jobs, showcasing the absurdities of survival with dry humor and keen observation.
• His roles range from delivery work to convenience store clerk, cleaner, and even an anime designer, revealing a persistent struggle at the bottom of the employment ladder.
• With a blend of hope and resignation, Hu candidly reflects on the challenges of urban life, portraying the harsh realities of precarious work and the comical absurdities he encounters.

Hu Anyan’s I Deliver Parcels in Beijing offers a compelling chronicle of his two-decade journey through 19 low-wage jobs across Beijing, illustrated with a blend of dry humor and vivid observational detail. The narrative captures the absurdities and stark realities of survival on the fringes of urban life, depicting a world where hope is entwined with disillusionment.

In his extensive exploration of jobs—from parcel delivery and convenience-store work to cleaning and stints in a vegetable market and an anime design company—Hu reveals the precariousness of labor for the city’s underclass. Notably, the duration of these positions varies dramatically; some last mere days or weeks, highlighting an unstable employment landscape rife with vanishing bosses, illusory contracts, and arbitrary rules. This chaotic environment necessitates resilience, where the essential qualifications for survival become a strong back, a flexible sense of dignity, and a high tolerance for absurdity.

At the age of 47, Hu, who originally hails from Guangzhou, reflects on his experiences in various cities, including a brief tenure in Vietnam. He encapsulates the paradox of urban life where places brim with potential yet leave individuals feeling stagnant and exploited. With a nuanced perspective, he conveys an innocence marred by the harsh truths of labor, paired with a remarkable aptitude for self-reflection.

Hu’s writing style marries humor with a documentary’s precision. He meticulously details the minutiae of his experiences—tracking wages to the cent, timing shifts, and cataloging fines and injustices—without descending into melodrama. His observations often portray the absurd: security guards overseeing nothing, managers fostering chaos, and delivery algorithms dictating lives with apathy.

Completing his trial as a parcel deliverer epitomizes his journey through a world filled with contradictions and challenges, underscoring the complexity of urban survival in modern China. Hu Anyan’s narrative ultimately illuminates the resilience of those navigating life on society’s margins, serving as both an engaging autobiography and a social commentary.

Read the original article : China’s new literary star had 19 jobs before ‘writer’ – including bike courier and bakery apprentice

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