In Depth: ‘Blood and Sweat’ Don’t Pay Off for China’s Army of Delivery Workers

In January, a food deliveryman for Alibaba-owned takeout dining specialist Ele.me set himself on fire outside a shop in the eastern Chinese city of Taizhou.

People from nearby shops helped extinguish the flames. But the deliveryman, surnamed Liu, who hauled food for Ele.me’s Fengniao service in Jiangsu province, refused to be taken to the hospital until he had discussed the issue of money he was owed for his “blood and sweat.”