FLYING HIGH WITH PRESTIGIOUS AWARD

In 1992, 23-year-old migrant worker Wang Jibing returned to his hometown of Wangzhuang village in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, and collected sand from the Yihe River behind the village for a living. He suffered immensely both physically and spiritually during this period, which he calls "the hardest time" of the first half of his life. However, it was also a peak for his writing hobby.

After publishing several stories, he began his first novel, aspiring to become a professional writer. He wrote tirelessly. At one point, to experience the grief of losing a loved one, he walked around the village wearing mourning clothes, which completely infuriated his father. That winter, his father burned all his manuscripts, including the 200,000-character novel.

Over the next two decades, Wang, who had dropped out of junior middle school, worked various jobs: driving a small dump truck in a brick factory, handling loading and unloading, physical dock labor, collecting and selling scrap materials, and running first a bookstore, then a grocery. In his fragmented free time, Wang continued to write on paper, which, once filled with words, would be immediately thrown away or burned until 2009.

On the evening of Aug 28, 2026, Wang, born in 1969 and now a food deliveryman, stepped onto the stage of the Lu Xun Literature Prize award ceremony in Shanghai to receive one of the most prestigious literary honors in China, for Dichu Feixing (Flying Low), his third collection of poetry.

"I have been a food deliveryman for eight years. Life is something I take seriously. So is writing. I use words to document life, believing that literature can make the world warmer and more compassionate," he said in his acceptance speech.

At a book event in Shanghai Book City in August, Wang said that to write the book, he interviewed more than 140 food delivery workers and collected more than 60 questionnaires from his colleagues, whom he considers his "brothers and sisters".

In one poem, he writes about a one-armed man who ran very fast while he delivered an order, his empty sleeve fluttering and making him very noticeable.

When Wang crossed paths with him, he brought his hands together in a gesture of respect. The deliveryman, despite an amputated arm, reciprocated the gesture.

"At that moment, I was deeply moved; he seemed like a living Buddha," he told the audience.

"I sensed a certain radiance about him, a feeling I wish to share with my fellow workers. This glow of humanity is the embodiment of the spirit of our perseverance and determination," he says.

In Flying Low, he portrays a group of people who live earnestly and are filled with hope. In the middle of one of Wang's interviews, a single father in Kunshan in Jiangsu province received a phone call from his son, who said that he wanted to work with his father to deliver food. As tears instantly streamed down the father's face, he asked Wang, "We work so hard so that our children will live a different life from ours. If our children live just like us, what do we live for?"

"Not all wings can soar high, but flying low is still flying" was his answer to the question.

Several times in his life, Wang was forced to endure the sudden loss of everything except his family.

"At noon, we thought we were pretty rich, but then we had to think about how to feed ourselves in the evening," he says.

To address their need for dinner, he began gathering scrap materials while his wife visited the farmers market after closing to collect edible vegetable leaves from the trash. For over a decade, the couple had neither a home nor a bed, spending their nights sleeping on the ground.

However, "whatever life gives me, I am willing to embrace life with love," he says.

Amid all of life's challenges and hardships, literature has always been a beacon leading him toward light.

"One's enthusiasm can unlock limitless potential," he says.

"Literature was there for me during the most stressful times of my life, and I am deeply grateful for it. It has become a cornerstone of my existence, a passion deeply rooted in my heart."

People need to find their own faith, something that is often regarded as useless but is actually extremely important to them, "just like literature is to me", he says.

Life is hard, but Wang did not want to focus his poetry on the dark side of life, a choice that has led to criticism.

"Some people question why I write so optimistically about such difficult things," he says.

"But we have different understandings of life and literature. I prefer to be someone who picks cotton rather than a blacksmith. If you're looking for knives, there are many excellent blacksmiths out there, but that's not me," he says.

"I will continue to spread warmth in the world and care about those who share similar experiences with me," he adds.