A deadly fight for money in China

YOU SANG-CHUL
The author is the CEO of China Lab.

The Year of the Blue Dragon should begin with hope and expectations, but a story from China made me feel how tragic life can be. Li Yuekai, a 32-year-old delivery driver from Jilin Province, died in Shandong Province shortly after 10 p.m. on Jan. 5. He got into a fight with 54-year-old security guard Zhao Li, who stabbed the young man to death.

According to Chinese media, Li left for Australia to study after graduating from high school. His father worked at a hotel, and his mother was a babysitter, together making about 7,000 yuan ($1,000) a month. His parents had great expectations for Li and spent 1 million yuan to send their son to study abroad.

But Li failed to get a job after returning home six years ago. He had yet to repay half of the debt from studying abroad. His relative invited him to work in Shandong Province, where he started the delivery job.

His humble dream was to make some money to lessen the financial burden on his parents, and he had no intention of dating or marriage. He was working hard, taking some 100 orders while others were doing only several dozens. When a delivery comes late, customers would complain, which leads to a penalty.

The company rates the delivery men from level one to six, paying up to 0.49 yuan per order as an incentive. That’s why you often see delivery workers running around in China.

On the day of the incident, Li went to drop off a delivery at an apartment in Qingdao. The apartment had a rule banning motorcycles from entering, and if the security guard fails to fulfill that duty, 50 yuan would be deducted from the monthly pay of 2,200 yuan. Li tried to enter the apartment on his motorcycle to earn the 0.49-yuan incentive for quick delivery, while Zhao tried to stop him to save himself from a 50-yuan fine. The fight was inevitable.

The ending was tragic. It was only six days after Li started working for the delivery service. The incident reminds us of the serious youth unemployment in China. The Chinese government stopped releasing youth unemployment data after the rate reached an all-time high of 21.3 percent in July 2023.

After learning the news, Chinese people are heartbroken. It would not be much different in Korea. It wouldn’t be surprising if the same incident happened somewhere here. The main issue of the new year should taking care of people’s tough livelihood, not winning the upcoming parliamentary elections on April 10.