Chinese workers’ literature is undergoing a revival in the gig-economy era, with a raft of work coming out about, and by, working-class labor.
Spanning poetry, fiction, and nonfiction — both online and in print — the writing has included translations such as I Deliver Parcels in Beijing and Adrift in the South.
But unlike works of generations past, when protagonists were “empowered as the masters of the nation, they now express disempowerment, marginalization, and isolation,” one expert told China Books Review.
“In the past, [readers] preferred grand narratives, and the microscopic accounts of ordinary humans might’ve been overlooked,” the author of Adrift in the South told The Baffler, whereas more recently, “rustic stories of individuals carry more power and resonance.”