A Meituan delivery worker in China. Illustration photo by Unsplash |
According to the South China Morning Postthe three-minute film was jointly released by CCTV and food delivery platform Meituan on Nov. 28. Set in the town of Dali in Yunnan Province, the film follows a female graphic designer, nicknamed Alan, who leaves her office job to become a delivery rider in pursuit of her personal dreams.
In the narrative, Alan is shown finding fulfillment in her new role, which is described as providing both a stable income and the freedom to “switch identities at will” while bringing her “closer to her dreams.” By her third month as a courier, the film depicts her saving enough money to purchase a new camera, documenting moments along her delivery routes and eventually staging a solo photography exhibition.
A voice-over in the film states: “The beautiful life I long for, I deliver it and I receive it too.”
The production also suggests that delivery work allows riders to enjoy the scenery along the way, messages that quickly triggered backlash on social media.
Critics said the portrayal was disconnected from the lived experiences of delivery riders, a group widely known to work long hours under physically demanding and algorithm-driven conditions. Many argued that the film downplayed the pressure of tight delivery deadlines, traffic risks and penalties linked to late orders or poor customer ratings.
“They are running red lights and still have time to enjoy the scenery?” one netizen wrote.
“Delivery riders admiring roadside views? This is turning sheer survival into a fairy tale,” another commented.
Others accused it of promoting an unrealistic and privileged fantasy.
The film was reportedly produced under CCTV’s “Brand Strengthen a Nation Project,” launched in 2020. The initiative provided companies with advertising exposure in exchange for charitable donations during Covid-19 relief efforts in Hubei Province. Meituan, which donated 200 million yuan (US$28.4 million), qualified for the programme, which offered advertising resources valued at 3.1 billion yuan.
Following the online backlash, the video was removed from CCTV’s official platforms. Neither CCTV nor Meituan has issued a public response.
In contrast to the film’s depiction, Chinese writer Hu Anyan described the demands of delivery work in his memoir “I Deliver Parcels in Beijing,” per The New York Post. He wrote that on particularly busy days, he walked up to 30,000 steps and aimed to complete a delivery every four minutes, sometimes skipping toilet and lunch breaks to stay on schedule.
“Slowly, I got used to approaching all questions from a purely financial standpoint,” Hu wrote. “Basically, I skipped a lot of lunches. I also hardly drank any water in the mornings to reduce the frequency of restroom breaks throughout the day.”
According to Xinhua News AgencyChina had more than 10 million food delivery riders as of 2025.
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