Running the City Without Sound. Deaf Couriers in Shanghai

China Daily

25th December 2025

Running the City Without Sound. Deaf Couriers in Shanghai

In Shanghai, a delivery station for deaf riders raises a larger question: what does inclusive work look like in the digital economy?

At 7:09am, food courier Sun Jingjing received her first order of the day: a Starbucks coffee to be delivered to a high-rise residential building 1 kilometer away. For the next two hours, she wove through malls, residential blocks, and office towers, jogging past commuters heading to work – all in silence.

Sun is a deaf courier. At her delivery station, there are 17 full-time deaf riders like her. Many of them previously worked in factories or restaurant kitchens, earning modest incomes and rarely encountering other deaf people. Life often felt lonely.

https://www.citynewsservice.cn/articles/shanghaidaily/in-focus/running-the-city-without-sound-deaf-couriers-in-shanghai-amyyy96m