Liu Junli:

24-year- old Delivery Rider

Delivery rider is a profession so male-dominated that practitioners are usually referred to as “delivery boys” in China, but a few women have also taken the job, even if statistics show they account for less than three percent of the total.

“Post-95s” girl Liu Junli is one of them. In 2020, Liu arrived in Beijing and became a food delivery rider. Born in 1997, she has such a positive and optimistic character that few could guess how much pressure rests on the pleasant girl’s shoulders. The cost of surgery to save her father overwhelmed the family. “I’m his daughter, and I had to do something,” she said.

Food delivery is a job where every second counts. On a typical day, she rides more than 150 kilometers, walks more than 30,000 steps, delivers more than 50 orders, and works nearly 12 hours.

Tasked with feeding others on time, she never gets a chance to eat when everyone else does. She often doesn’t have time for lunch until two or three o’clock in the afternoon, and dinner is even later, after 8 p.m. Sometimes she has to grab a few quick bites while waiting at traffic lights. “Red lights are my only breaks,” she grinned.

Delivering food is hard work. Her team had a total of eight female riders when she first started, but now only two including Liu are left. Every day after completing the 12 hours of work, Liu studies English for an hour after returning to her dormitory. She expects to find more possibilities in Beijing, a city full of opportunities, through her hard work.

“The harder I work, the more money I make. So, I believe life will get better gradually.”