Delivery apps have transformed urban life in China
They have also created a new kind of worker
Editor’s note: The Economist is making some of its most important coverage of the covid-19 pandemic freely available to readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. To receive it, register here. For more coverage, see our coronavirus hub
DURING THE recent peak of covid-19 cases in China, large metal shelving-units appeared at entrances to residential compounds across Shanghai. Outsiders were not allowed in. But somewhere was needed to hold the myriad packages ordered online by the millions of residents who were staying at home. The shelves groaned under the weight of disinfectant and vitamin tablets, sacks of rice and flour, cooking oil and vegetables.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline "Visible and vocal"
From the April 4th 2020 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from China
The dark side of growing old
A coming wave of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia will test China to its limits
Examining the fluff that frustrates northern China
An effort to improve the environment has had unintended consequences
China is talking to Taiwan’s next leader, just not directly
Officials in Beijing want the island’s new president to be more like one from the past