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Mandy Zuo

After taking a long holiday in her hometown in northern China for the Lunar New Year, Wu Junhua lost her job as a yoga trainer in Shanghai when she returned in February.
The coronavirus outbreak had hit almost every business badly as people were advised to stay home to contain the deadly disease, and the yoga studio she worked at was no exception.
After being jobless for another month, the 26-year-old took a food delivery job in March.
“It’s quite unlikely yoga training will recover soon,” she said. “The food delivery job offers flexible working hours and ensures I have some income.”


Wu is just one of China’s working class that are struggling to remain in employment as the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic lingers in the country, where the virus started spreading in January but has been brought under control since March.
Although lockdowns have been lifted and businesses are gradually rolling back to normalcy, many in the service sector, including gyms and entertainment venues, remain shut. The relatively undemanding and less-affected food delivery sector has become the temporary solution for many people coping with financial stress.


About 7 million people are earning a living by delivering food across China amid the pandemic, according to recent reports by Ele.me and Meituan, the two leading online food delivery platforms.
Zou Dehu, 21, started delivering food in the eastern city of Shanghai in late February. Despite his young age, he had worked at a factory, a bar and a construction site.
It’s not his favourite job but the quickest he could find in the New Year, which started with a novel virus that has now killed more than 220,000 people around the world.
“I thought of going back to Yinchuan [capital of Ningxia autonomous region where I was a bartender] but the bars are still closed. I don’t know when they can reopen,” he said.

There was no construction work for him either. His cousin, a contractor who led him to the job three years ago, only started working last week after the Lunar New Year break, said Zou, who hails from a village in Haiyuan county, Ningxia, in China’s northwest.
“Many of my fellow villagers have decided to stay at home this year as they lost their original work in the city. Farming is all they do now,” he said.
The online food ordering market, which has flourished in recent years, might be one of the few sectors that are still offering jobs for China’s internal migrant workers.
The industry witnessed a total transaction volume of over 727 billion yuan (US$103 billion) last year, according to a report by Beijing-based consulting firm Analysys in January.


Ele.me, the platform both Wu and Zou worked for, have about 3 million drivers across the country and 80 per cent of them are from rural areas, according to a report issued by the company earlier this month.
They are an average age of 31 and, like Wu and Zou, about 56 per cent have other professional skills or are doing delivering as a part-time job.
But it’s no easy work in these extraordinary times, Zou said.
Sharing a two-bedroom flat with 11 co-workers, he made over 5,000 yuan (US$700) last month, but spent most of it. He needed to pay 750 yuan for the dormitory, more than 500 yuan to rent his electric bicycle and had to cover his own meals.
He got 7 yuan for each order he took, but would face a fine of 100 yuan for a customer complaint or failing to deliver the food on time, and 50 yuan if he was caught violating traffic rules.

As the platform sets a maximum delivery time, breaking traffic rules is a common phenomenon among the electric bicycle riders.
“In the first week I was fined for traffic rule violations nearly every day as I was not familiar with the routes,” he said.
And not only has the epidemic led to a drop in orders as people cook more at home, but also brought some unreasonable complaints, Zou said.
“Many residential communities are still only open for residents and the security guards would stop us at the gate, but there are always some picky customers who would insist I bring the box to their doors,” he said.
Life as a bartender was much nicer and Zou planned to return to Ningxia when he “saved enough money”.


To Wu, being a driver is also an expedient measure during hard times.
She still practises yoga regularly and in her spare time she shoots short clips of yoga classes for office workers she sent food to in order to maintain her skills.
In the videos she included simple gestures suitable to do in an office and shared them with potential clients, even though no one was going to yoga studios now.
“I will definitely resume my old job once everything is back to normal. But being a food delivery driver has also been part of my life and I will cherish this experience,” she said.



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Coronavirus pandemic

Food delivery jobs put bread on the table for Chinese confronted with pandemic crisis and unemployment

Zou Dehu became a food delivery driver after losing his job in a bar because of the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: Thomas Yau

Roughly 7 million people are earning a living by delivering food across China amid the pandemic, according to recent reports by Ele.me and Meituan. Bartender Zou Dehu, 21, became one of them in Shanghai in late February. SCMP / Thomas Yau

Yoga teacher Wu Junhua is among those in ChinaÕs working class struggling to remain in employment as the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic lingers in the country. Photo: Handout

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Potential homebuyers wearing protective face masks look at a scale model of a Hong Kong housing project in March as the government begins to ease coronavirus restrictions. Photo: Winson Wong

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Chinese policymakers are increasingly worried that the country may be internationally isolated over its handling of the pandemic. Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

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Calls for unemployment insurance scheme in Hong Kong are growing as more than 162,000 people lost their jobs in the first quarter of 2020. Photo: Winson Wong

An empty bar is seen in the usually bustiling Lan Kwai Fong area after police blocked entry to revellers during Halloween in Hong Kong on October 31, 2019. - Hong Kong democracy activists donned Halloween masks lampooning the city's pro-Beijing leaders on October 31, 2019, defying an emergency law that bans face coverings and sparking renewed clashes with police. (Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP)

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China

People & Culture

Coronavirus

Greater China


Food delivery sector has become a temporary solution for many people coping with financial stress
One driver tells of being paid 7 yuan per delivery but paying 500 yuan a month to rent bike and a 100 yuan fine if the customer complains



The food delivery sector in China has 7 million drivers and has become a temporary solution for many hit by coronavirus economic shock waves.
