Illustration: Liu Xiangya/Global Times

Coined by domestic media as "deliveryman by day, poet by night," 55-year-old Wang Jibing earns a living by working as a delivery person in Kunshan, East China's Jiangsu Province. At the same time, his passion for poetry has driven him to write over 4,000 poems. He also came under the spotlight as his name was on the recently unveiled 2023 list of new members for the Chinese Writers ­Association, igniting praise and discussions among Chinese netizens.

Born in a rural area in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, Wang dropped out of secondary school. He tried various jobs to make a living, such as a construction worker and working on sand mining boats, as well as a garbage collector. 

Now as a husband and a father of three children, the financial burden on his shoulder has become heavier and his work schedule has gotten more hectic. Yet it has never stopped him from reading and writing, which has been a routine all his life. 

Wang started writing poems online in several poetry forums in the 2000s, and later expanded to different social media platforms. While Wang garnered likes from readers of the same mind, it wasn't until Chen Zhaohua, the former CEO of sohu.com, shared one of his poems on China's social media platform Sina Weibo that he gained wider popularity. 

"The ones that race with time don't have four seasons. They have one station and the next. The world is only the name of a place. Wang Family Village is the same," read the poem shared by Chen. Titled "People in a Hurry," it gathered more than 13 million views within a week. 

Wang gained inspiration for the poem from an unpleasant food delivery experience in 2019. Because the customer made a mistake with the delivery address, he had to rush several times to get the food delivered on time. 

It led to delays with other orders, as well as penalties and a decrease in his earnings for the delivery. The government later launched a crackdown to address this type of situation, demanding delivery firms better protect delivery person's rights. 

During an interview with the media, Wang noted that delivering food allows him to interact with more people and experience more things. The job has also triggered a deeper understanding and empathy for others, which greatly inspired him. ­Writing poetry helps him feel comfortable and find inner peace. 

The subjects of Wang's poems cover a wide range, including his memories of his family and hometown, and his observations of society and life while working as a laborer in different cities. Yet simplicity, reality and sincerity appear to be the shared prominent characteristics of his work. His poems are deeply rooted in everyday life, and capture the simple joy and sadness of common people, tugging at the heartstrings of tens of thousands of ordinary people just like him. 

Wang's rising popularity epitomizes the cherished respect and acknowledgment of civilian expression. The inclusion of Wang underscores the stance of the Chinese Writers Association, which is that sincerity and authenticity form the essence of literary creation.

Wang's rise to fame reflects the fact that ordinary workers can achieve a balance between making a living and enriching their spiritual world. Ordinary people are equally eager to pursue a spiritual homeland through expressive means like writing, painting, music, photos or videos. 

Their writing may not be fancy or use ornate words, and their video clips may not have professional editing, but the inner voices of these seemingly ordinary yet story-rich individuals can resonate profoundly with netizens and common people. 

Civilian heroes with such rich spirits deserve to be seen and authorities are giving them the acknowledgment they deserve.

We are confident that more and more ordinary individuals will join Wang, and bring enduring vitality and the appeal of authentic civilian narratives to China's vast realm of literary and artistic creation.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. life@globaltimes.com.cn