"Everyone's messages are very warm, and at the same time I'm a little flustered"
A poem by a food delivery rider gets the attention of millions of netizens
Yang Liping's new book "Chinese Takeaway" tells the story of Wang Jibing
"Every day I can meet / a deliveryman running fast / hammering the ground with my feet / constantly quenching in this world." Recently, a poem written by a food delivery rider in Suzhou, "People in a Hurry", was posted on social media. Many netizens resonated on the platform, and everyone praised them: "Very powerful, a poem for laborers." A reporter from the Ziniu News from the Yangtze Evening News contacted the delivery rider, 54-year-old Wang Jibing, whose poetry works are authentic Recorded the daily work of the takeaway brother regardless of the weather, simple and sincere, and loved by many people.
Writer Yang Liping also tells his story in his new book, "Chinese Takeaway."
Recently, Wang Jibing shared with reporters his story of pursuing "poetry and distance" while delivering food.
Ziniu News trainee reporter Yan Chunxu
people in a hurry
Author: Wang Jibing
drive the wind out of the air
Knives out of the wind
drive fire out of the bones
drive water out of fire
There are no four seasons for those in a hurry
only one stop and the next
The world is a place name
Wangzhuang Village is also
I meet every day
A dashing takeaway
Hammer the ground with both feet
Constantly quenching in this world
After a poem was followed by 20 million netizens and became popular, it received invitations from 6 publishing houses
Wang Jibing is from Pizhou, Xuzhou. He currently lives in Kunshan, Suzhou. He has been delivering food since 2019.
He introduced that the poem that became popular on the Internet was written one night after he became a takeaway rider for half a year, when he was delivering a takeaway, "It was an old community, I climbed to the 6th floor and knocked on the door, the owner of the house He told me with a blank face that he didn't order the takeaway." Wang Jibing contacted the customer again, and the customer said that he had written the wrong address, and then filled in the address again, but after he climbed to the 6th floor of a building, he found that the new address was still the same. Incorrect.
Wang Jibing, gasping for breath, confirmed the address information again, and for the third time climbed to the 6th floor of another building before delivering the food to customers.
Watching the passage of time, he felt extremely uncomfortable, "I used all my strength and ran and climbed the stairs, but I still couldn't reach the destination, and the other two takeaway orders in my hand were also overtime by 10. More minutes." In this case, Wang Jibing wrote the verse of "Drive out the wind from the air / Drive out the knife from the wind / Drive out the fire from the bones / Drive out the water from the fire".
Wang Jibing didn't expect that this little poem called "People in a Hurry" would make him popular on the Internet.
On July 20, 2022, this little poem of less than 100 words was shared by poet Chen Chaohua on Weibo, attracting the attention of more than 20 million netizens, and more than 100,000 netizens reposted and liked it.
Wang Jibing was surprised, "Everyone's comments and encouragement made me feel very warm, but at the same time, I was also a little panic, worried that my work would not be liked by everyone."
A week after becoming popular, Wang Jibing received book invitations from six publishing houses, but he rejected the last five.
He believes that the poems he has written can only be published in one collection of poems, which is not enough for two, "so I rejected the next five publishing houses."
Wang Jibing also wanted to use the Yangtze Evening News Ziniu News to express his apology to the rejected publishing house, "I know who I am and the quantity and quality of my poetry. If I don't do as well as you think, I hope everyone Being tolerant and understanding, I am an ordinary person with an ordinary hobby, and I persevered, it’s that simple.”
Writing was opposed by his family, but his love kept him going
Wang Jibing was born in a peasant family in Pizhou, Xuzhou.
Because of his weak health, he was sent to a martial arts school in the second year of junior high school, and went out to work two years later. He worked hard in Liaoning, Xinjiang, Shandong and other places successively, working as a fitter and building adobe.
This experience made him deeply realize the value of reading.
After he was busy every day, Wang Jibing would always go to the used bookstore to find books, whether it was high school Chinese textbooks, novels or prose books, he would buy and read them.
He often sits under the streetlights in the park and sees it coming back late.
In his spare time, Wang Jibing wrote a novel about his daily life and showed it to his co-workers.
With the encouragement of his co-workers, he tried to submit a manuscript. Fortunately, a mini-novel he wrote reflecting the daily life in the rural areas of northern Jiangsu was published in Zhengzhou's "Hundred Garden" magazine, and he also received 25 yuan for the manuscript.
Later, he published more than ten novels one after another.
In 2002, Wang Jibing went to Kunshan, Suzhou for development. He set up a street stall, picked up junk, rented a bookstore... At work, he always carried a pen with him. When inspired, he tore off a piece of paper from an old book beside him and wrote it down.
After writing, he finds a place where no one else is and reads what he has written aloud.
Wang Jibing likes to write, but at first, he was opposed by his family.
His father thought that he was "not doing a proper job" and burned the manuscript paper of 200,000 words.
Wang Jibing was very sad when he saw that his hard work was burnt to the ground.
"My wife didn't understand what I was doing at first. When she found out that I was writing, she would deliberately throw something in her hand on the ground and make a loud noise."
In such a situation, Wang Jibing would read the written works to his wife, and his wife Guo Yiyun would always shake her head and say, "You are not a writer, I don't believe you can write good articles." But for Wang Jibing, writing made part of life.
In order not to affect the harmony of the family, Wang Jibing would write quietly, and every time he saw his wife coming, he would quickly put away the paper and pen.
He once swore in front of his wife, "I'll never write again!" But he found himself uncomfortable if he didn't write, so he insisted on secretly.
After winning the award, I will always cry when I use the bonus to buy clothes for my wife and read the work "Mother"
After coming to Kunshan to develop, Wang Jibing bought a computer, and he began to write poetry, "At that time, QQ space was relatively popular. I was very curious when I watched people play, so I imitated it and posted some articles in QQ space, which often attracted friends to click. Likes and comments."
Later, Wang Jibing met a friend who ran a private forum. At the invitation of the friend, he began to post the poems he wrote on the forum.
After a long time, Wang Jibing came into contact with other forums and kept posting in various forums.
He will use the material in the forum and the comments of netizens as inspiration, and then create new works based on his own experience.
Wang Jibing initially imitated the writing style of the poet Wang Guozhen, and later wrote some interesting things based on his daily life, and gradually formed his own creative style, and won awards in some competitions.
Wang Jibing once received a bonus of 3,000 yuan, and he added more money to buy a dress for his wife, who was very happy.
Later, when the food delivery platform held a talent show, Wang Jibing voted a set of poems for the platform and received a reward of 300 yuan. Gradually, Wang Jibing became famous.
Ziniu News reporter learned that Wang Jibing has published more than 100 poems so far and won 20 or 30 awards.
One of the poems that impressed Wang Jibing the most was "Mother".
The poem was written in 2019 when his mother was still alive.
He wrote in the poem: "The years have condensed a full-length drama/condensed into a poem/condensed a poem into a title/condensed the title into a word/condensed a word into a needle/I call my mother/I feel distressed One time/calling mother again/I want to use silk thread/sew up the riddled past/I shouted mother one after another/like mother using a needle to pick the lamp flower/again/and then/the sky will light up. "
When he was free, Wang Jibing would read the poem to his illiterate mother.
"My mother doesn't know what I wrote, but as long as I read it, she will be happy." Now when I read this poem again, Wang Jibing will always cry, "My mother has passed away for a year and a half, and I am reading it in one breath. I can’t read it anymore, I can’t read it when I get to the middle, it will always bring back memories of my mother.”
daily
Send more than 30 orders every day, earn more than 200, write poems to record life
Today, Wang Jibing and his wife run a small store of about 60 square meters in Kunshan. Due to the impact of the epidemic, the business of the physical store is not busy.
Every time around 10 am, my wife came to the store to change shifts.
Wang Jibing changed into takeout clothes and rode an electric car out to deliver takeout.
Recently, he delivered every day from noon to 10:30 in the evening, "I am an old rider now, and I am very familiar with the environmental routes of various nearby communities. I deliver more than 30 takeaway orders every day, earning more than 200 yuan. If It's a full-time takeaway and may deliver more orders."
Wang Jibing told reporters that his thoughts would be particularly active when delivering food, which was of great help to writing.
Due to frequent orders that travel far away, Wang Jibing feels that the process of delivering food is like traveling, pursuing his own "poetry and distance".
At the beginning, he would carry a pen and a notebook with him, put it in the takeaway box, and then use the scraps of time to record what he saw and felt during the ride.
Later, Wang Jibing found a simpler way to create, "A lot of inspiration is fleeting, and now as long as an idea comes up, he will send himself a WeChat voice message, and he can record what he wants to say within a minute. When I’m free, I’ll replay these voices and listen carefully, and sometimes convert them directly into text, and then organize them into complete poems.”
Wang Jibing is very satisfied with his current life. He has three children, two of whom went to college, and his eldest daughter has two children after marriage.
In addition to work, Wang Jibing writes poems every day, and will finish a poem in two or three days, but he is not satisfied with most of the poems he has written, "I have been in a state of extensive cultivation and limited collection. Over the years, I have written about 3,000 poems. But I think there are only about 200 poems that are more satisfying."
Talking about the reasons for insisting on writing poems, Wang Jibing said: "I just like it. I usually don't talk much and I am introverted, but writing allows me to find an outlet for my emotions. No matter whether I can achieve results or not, I will keep writing. I think I see another version of myself when I write, and writing reminds me to keep learning, work hard to love life, and live out who I am.”