More Chinese Food Delivery Riders Report Bringing Children to Work Amid Sluggish Economy

More and more Chinese food delivery riders are taking their young children with them while delivering food as the economic situation in China continues to worsen, according to posts on social media and riders who have spoken with The Epoch Times about their plight.Amid China’s continuing economic downturn and persisting high unemployment, an increasing number of middle-class Chinese people have lost their jobs and joined the ranks of food delivery riders to make a living.According to the latest official data released by the Chinese communist regime in 2023, there are approximately 12 million delivery riders registered on online delivery platforms nationwide. In the documentary “2026 Survival Report on Chinese Food Delivery Workers,” released in April by the Sanlian Life Lab, a major publisher in China, the number of delivery riders is reported to have reached more than 13 million.Many of the delivery riders are gig workers and have very little benefits and welfare provided to them by the food delivery platforms or the state. Some of the delivery riders have staged protests in recent years to demand basic rights.Tian Jing, a delivery rider in Guangzhou, Guangdong, who used a pseudonym out of fear of reprisal, told The Epoch Times that she began working as a delivery rider last year. Since she had no one to look after her 2-year-old, she took the child along on her rounds.“The child acts up sometimes, but it’s unavoidable,” she said.“I’m delivering food only to earn enough for groceries. Of course, it’s tough on the child having to run around with me,” she said. “Nowadays, every industry is incredibly competitive. It’s impossible to find a job with standard office hours.”Xiaofang, a delivery rider in Jiangmen city in Guangdong Province who used a pseudonym out of fear of reprisal, told The Epoch Times, “Delivering food with a child in tow is exhausting,” adding that she is raising the child entirely on her own, and her family couldn’t help at all.She said that orders are scarce now, and the rates are low; sometimes she won’t receive a single job for a full hour.“I have a child to support and I’m broke, so I come out to do the delivery, knowing that every little bit I can earn helps.”Xiaofang said she only manages to earn 30 or 40 yuan ($4.43 to $5.91) a day.“The economy has been bad these past few years. Each year is worse than the last and no job pays well anymore.”Amid a persistent sluggish economy, in 2026, the Chinese regime set the growth target at 4.5 percent to 5 percent, the lowest since 1991.Yang Hua, a single mother in Langfang city in Hebei Province who used a pseudonym out of fear of reprisal, told The Epoch Times that she divorced in 2023 when her child was just 1 year old. After losing her job in 2024, she began working as a food delivery rider.She noted that the delivery business is tough right now. Last year, orders were plentiful and she would receive a steady stream of requests the moment she stepped out the door. But this year, orders have dropped off.“It’s likely that there are more people delivering food now, while fewer people are ordering it,” she said.Yang said that delivering food while carrying a child on her back makes her afraid to ride too fast, which often results in late deliveries and wage deductions. Not long ago, a male colleague of hers who was also working with his child in tow was docked 50 yuan ($7.39) for late delivery, she said.“It was snowing slightly that day, and with ice on the roads. He didn’t dare ride too quickly with his kid.”Fathers Deliver Food With Children in TowVideo posts of male food delivery riders taking their children with them on social media have attracted public attention and sparked heated discussion about the riders’ hardships.A food delivery worker rides his bike in the snow at a residential compound in Beijing on Feb. 6, 2020. ReutersOne of the posts shows a delivery rider in Guangxi Province on April 3 taking two children while making deliveries—one seated in front of his bike and the other strapped to his back.Another one shows that on Jan. 17, a food delivery rider in Guangxi delivered orders in the frigid cold during winter, bringing his child along with him.Another popular video post shows a male food delivery worker in Kunming city of Yunnan Province having a meal at a restaurant while carrying a child on his back during a break between deliveries on Nov. 30, 2025.Su He, a delivery rider in Guangzhou city in Guangdong Province who used a pseudonym out of fear of reprisal, told The Epoch Times that he’s from Zhaoqing in Guangdong, and his child’s mother left them, so he had to take care of the child while making deliveries.Su said that making money has become increasingly difficult, and he had to sometimes deliver food overnight with his sleeping child in tow.He made every effort to keep the child within sight, Su said. Whenever he went inside to pick up an order, he would typically ask someone at the shop to keep an eye on the child for him. He hasn’t sent his child to kindergarten due to the cost.“Right now, delivering food pays only three or four thousand a month ($443 to $591),” Su said.As the economic situation continues to worsen in China, he said that even college students, previously one of the main customer groups, have stopped ordering food delivery.“Orders are scarce now, and the competition is fierce. In the past, I could work over ten hours a day carrying my child on my back, but now, I’m lucky if I can get in just a few hours of work a day.”Sanlian Life Lab’s “2026 Survival Report on Chinese Food Delivery Workers” depicts the plight and struggles of the Chinese delivery riders. The documentary has attracted wide public attention, but soon was banned by the Chinese regime. The documentary can still be found on overseas online platforms such as X and China Digital Times. Tang Bing and Guo Xiaohua contributed to this report.