孙萍｜当过渡成为常态：骑手、零工经济与劳动的变迁 Sun Ping | When Transition Becomes the Norm: Riders, Gig Economy, and the Transformation of Labor

中国社会科学院新闻与传播研究所副研究员 孙萍 Associate Researcher Sun Ping, Institute of Journalism and Communication, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

来源：澎湃新闻 Source: The Paper

《过渡劳动：平台经济下的外卖骑手》，孙萍著，薄荷实验｜华东师范大学出版社，2024年即将出版，388页，98.00元
"Transitional Labor: Food Delivery Riders in the Platform Economy," by Sun Ping, Mint Experiment | East China Normal University Press, to be published in 2024, 388 pages, 98.00 yuan

《过渡劳动》是一部关于外卖骑手的民族志调研。外卖骑手，对于社会，是一个新职业群体；对于我个人，却是亲密的老朋友。2017年之前，我和骑手是被职业和社会身份所区隔的陌生人；2017年以来，我和调研小组的同学们一道尝试进入他们的生活，以追踪调研的方式，让两个平行世界有了交集。
"Transitional Labor" is an ethnographic study on food delivery riders. For society, food delivery riders are a new occupational group; for me personally, they are intimate old friends. Before 2017, the riders and I were strangers separated by our professions and social identities; since 2017, my research team and I have tried to enter their lives, using tracking research methods to intersect our two parallel worlds.

七八年来，来自五湖四海的骑手收我为友，以他们朴实的方式为我提供热忱的帮助。在对外卖骑手的田野调查中，人的相遇和故事的讲述不仅鲜活地呈现出“主人公”的群体特征，还浓缩并蕴含了平台时代的数字洪流对于个体生命的冲击。
Over the past seven or eight years, riders from all over the country have befriended me, offering me sincere help in their simple ways. In the field research on food delivery riders, the encounters with people and the telling of stories not only vividly present the group characteristics of the "protagonists" but also encapsulate and embody the impact of the digital torrent of the platform era on individual lives.

扎堆聚集又四散而去的外卖骑手 Food delivery riders who gather in clusters and then disperse

外卖骑手诞生于中国平台经济飞速发展的阶段，在过去的十年间，“送外卖”由一种新兴现象变为一种新兴职业，“网约配送员”也正式成为一个专门的职业，收入国家正式职业列表。但是，这样一群借由巨大互联网红利和加速城镇化催生的劳动者，却充满了流动性和不确定性。每次想到这群人，我的脑海里便浮现出夏季傍晚的椋鸟，它们在很短的时间内扎堆聚集，在城市上空飞舞盘旋，夜幕降临后却又四处散去。
Food delivery riders emerged during the rapid development of China's platform economy. Over the past decade, "delivering food" has evolved from a new phenomenon into a new profession, and "online delivery personnel" has officially become a recognized occupation, included in the national official occupation list. However, this group of workers, born from the enormous internet dividends and accelerated urbanization, is full of mobility and uncertainty. Every time I think of this group, the image of starlings in the summer evening comes to mind. They gather in clusters in a short time, fly and circle over the city, and disperse everywhere after nightfall.

根据我的观察，骑手的流动性几乎是所有现有的零工劳动职业之最。比起家政工、快递员、网约车、主播或线上零工，骑手的工作更加液态、更加临时、更加不确定。送外卖正在形塑一种“短命劳动”的文化，伴随着越来越多的人加入，这份工作的流动速度之快，让人愈发眼花缭乱。回顾往昔，历史上似乎没有任何一个时刻比现在拥有更多的零工劳动者，也没有任何一个时刻的人员流动如此频繁与快速。在平台市场用工普及化的时代，全世界有越来越多的“朝不保夕者”（the precariat）被生产出来，而外卖骑手正是其中的典型代表。
According to my observations, the mobility of delivery riders is almost the highest among all existing gig jobs. Compared to domestic workers, couriers, ride-hailing drivers, streamers, or online gig workers, the work of delivery riders is more fluid, more temporary, and more uncertain. Food delivery is shaping a culture of "short-lived labor," and as more people join, the speed of this job's turnover is becoming increasingly dizzying. Looking back, there seems to be no other time in history with more gig workers or such frequent and rapid personnel turnover. In the era of widespread platform labor, more and more "precarious workers" (the precariat) are being produced worldwide, with delivery riders being a typical example.

为什么送外卖会成为一种“短命劳动”？它与中国的城镇化、数字化有着怎样的纠葛与互动？我们如何理解劳动的过渡性？在田野调查中，我有幸跟随一个个外卖骑手的故事窥探到送外卖背后的“短命性”和“临时性”的问题。
Why has food delivery become a form of "short-lived labor"? How does it intertwine and interact with China's urbanization and digitalization? How do we understand the transitory nature of labor? Through field research, I have had the privilege of following the stories of various delivery riders to glimpse the issues of "short-lived" and "temporary" labor behind food delivery.

我将外卖骑手的劳动描述为一种“过渡劳动”的状态。对于参与其中的劳动者来说，这样一份劳动带有很强的“有待确认性”，它的存在既不是开始，也不是结束，而是一种悬浮状态。它有点像漂泊在海洋之上没有归宿的船只，也像一直在扇动翅膀努力挣扎却找不到落脚之地的候鸟。《过渡劳动》试图回答的问题是，在中国城镇化和数字化转型过程中，劳动的过渡性是如何被生产和塑造出来的。
I describe the labor of delivery riders as a state of "transitional labor." For the workers involved, this type of labor carries a strong sense of "pending confirmation." Its existence is neither a beginning nor an end but a state of suspension. It is somewhat like a ship adrift on the ocean without a destination, or like migratory birds flapping their wings in a struggle but unable to find a place to land. "Transitional Labor" attempts to answer how the transitory nature of labor is produced and shaped during China's urbanization and digital transformation.

“过渡一下”，跳进外卖经济的熔炉 "Transition for a while," jumping into the melting pot of the food delivery economy.

未来学家阿尔文·托夫勒（Alvin Toffler）在《未来的冲击》一书中论述了人类社会发展在工业化后的猛然加速，流动、快速成为我们的生活常态。此言不假，短暂性确实在不断影响着我们的生活与劳作。
Futurist Alvin Toffler discussed in his book "Future Shock" the sudden acceleration of human societal development post-industrialization, with mobility and speed becoming the norm in our lives. This is indeed true; transience is continuously affecting our lives and work.

托夫勒著《未来的冲击》 "Future Shock" by Alvin Toffler

平台零工的到来像一场缓慢而又快速的地震，迫使我们重新思考工作形式、工作状态及其意义。送外卖就是这样一种短暂、过渡性的劳动。当被问到送外卖的原因，“过渡一下”成为绝大多数外卖骑手的回应。因为不知道能干什么以及未来干什么，所以他们决定先来跑外卖。我用“过渡劳动”这一概念来形容送外卖，却也不止于送外卖。过渡性正在成为现代人劳作的基本形态。这也最终成为我思考平台劳动的一个起点：为什么人们想通过跑外卖“过渡一下”？工作的“过渡性”到底意味着什么？它体现了当下社会对零工劳动怎样的想象？
The advent of platform gig work is like a slow yet rapid earthquake, forcing us to rethink the forms, states, and meanings of work. Delivering food is such a temporary, transitional labor. When asked why they deliver food, "just to transition" is the response of the vast majority of delivery riders. Because they don't know what they can do or what they will do in the future, they decide to deliver food first. I use the concept of "transitional labor" to describe food delivery, but it is not limited to food delivery. Transition is becoming the basic form of modern labor. This also ultimately became a starting point for my thinking about platform labor: Why do people want to "transition" by delivering food? What does the "transitional" nature of work really mean? What does it reflect about contemporary society's imagination of gig labor?

过渡劳动阐释的既是一种过程，也是一种结果。作为过程的“过渡劳动”，强调的是这种短暂和过渡的生成性。它在一种强调自由同时又充满监管的语境下生成，参与其中的劳动者需要面对来自技术系统的监管、城乡与阶层的区隔、性别化的自我认知，以及将“自我”作为决策主体的能动性展示。个体劳动者为什么想要加入外卖劳动？玛丽·L. 格雷（Mary L. Gary）和西达尔特·苏里（Siddharth Suri）在调查“幽灵工作”（ghost work）时指出，线上零工来去自由的“开放调用设计”让人们产生了可以自主掌控命运的想法。我试图论述，这种以自由为名的、创业式的劳动结果是，劳动者被抛入一种竞争的、加速的、高效的劳动状态中，无时无刻不在全力发挥自我的能动性，无时无刻不在燃烧自己、消耗自己。他们将越来越多的能动性发挥出来，并注入给资本，让资本发展的火苗越烧越旺。正是这样一种过度消耗最终促成了零工劳动的“过渡性”。
Transitional labor explains both a process and a result. As a process, "transitional labor" emphasizes the generative nature of this temporary and transitional state. It is generated in a context that emphasizes freedom while being full of regulation. Workers involved need to face supervision from technical systems, urban-rural and class divisions, gendered self-perception, and the display of agency as decision-making subjects. Why do individual workers want to join food delivery labor? Mary L. Gray and Siddharth Suri pointed out in their investigation of "ghost work" that the "open call design" of online gig work, which allows people to come and go freely, gives them the idea that they can control their destiny. I try to argue that the result of this entrepreneurial labor, in the name of freedom, is that workers are thrown into a competitive, accelerated, and efficient labor state, constantly exerting their agency, constantly burning and consuming themselves. They exert more and more agency and inject it into capital, making the flame of capital development burn brighter. It is this kind of overconsumption that ultimately contributes to the "transitional" nature of gig labor.

格雷和苏里著《幽灵工作》 "Ghost Work" by Mary L. Gray and Siddharth Suri

作为结果的“过渡劳动”，阐释的是零工经济在工作伦理、职业选择、劳动想象层面带给整个社会的影响。“过渡”正在成为一种永久且常态的存在，且这种过渡带有深深的依附性。借由互联网技术和人工智能的发展，平台劳动一方面使个体从传统的劳作中解放出来，一方面又使他们更加依赖社会系统和机构，因为个体无法在没有组织的灵活中生存。这也就是乌尔里希·贝克所说的制度化的个人主义。此种制度化的个人主义，绝不是一种“成功的解放”，因为个体变得个人化，他们不得不更多地依靠组织和机构，因而又变得组织化和标准化起来。借由外卖，农民工群体的工作伦理正在受到更强的规训和管理，变得日益趋于中产化。平台经济下的灵活自由背后其实是个人对社会组织更强烈和更深层的依赖这一事实。从这个意义上来说，过渡劳动其实在某种程度上增强了个体的依附性，个体被从传统生产业解放出来获得“自由”的同时，也被抛在了零工经济的洪流前而不得不依赖和求助于平台的组织化生产并随波逐流。也是因此，反抗往往变得充满不确定，特别容易被打碎、浇灭。
As a result, "transitional labor" explains the impact of the gig economy on work ethics, career choices, and labor imagination at the societal level. "Transition" is becoming a permanent and normal existence, and this transition carries deep dependency. With the development of internet technology and artificial intelligence, platform labor on one hand liberates individuals from traditional labor, but on the other hand makes them more dependent on social systems and institutions, as individuals cannot survive in flexibility without organization. This is what Ulrich Beck calls institutionalized individualism. This institutionalized individualism is by no means a "successful liberation," because as individuals become individualized, they have to rely more on organizations and institutions, thus becoming more organized and standardized. Through food delivery, the work ethics of the migrant worker group are being more strongly disciplined and managed, becoming increasingly middle-class. The flexibility and freedom under the platform economy actually hide the fact that individuals have a stronger and deeper dependence on social organizations. In this sense, transitional labor actually enhances individual dependency to some extent. While individuals are liberated from traditional industries and gain "freedom," they are also thrown into the torrent of the gig economy, having to rely on and seek help from the organized production of platforms and go with the flow. Therefore, resistance often becomes uncertain, particularly easy to be shattered and extinguished.

为什么送外卖是一种过渡劳动？答案可以很复杂，也可以很简单。可以说，社会保障和基本工资的不完善成为骑手过渡劳动形成的重要原因。对于一个普通的劳动者而言，这份看似灵活自由的工作带有太强的自我计算和自我消耗。一旦卷入送外卖这样的零工劳动，不安定性和朝不保夕的状态就要求个体劳动者迅速地“支棱起来”，通过不停地算计、计算、安排、筹划、竞争来挣得收入。一些学者称其为“主体性过剩”，这样灵活而高效的劳动机制确实调用了个体极大的能动性，与此同时，此种能动性也被快速注入到资本的自我生产和自我增殖之中。
Why is delivering food considered a transitional job? The answer can be very complex or very simple. It can be said that the lack of social security and basic wages is an important reason for the formation of transitional labor among delivery riders. For an ordinary worker, this seemingly flexible and free job involves a lot of self-calculation and self-exhaustion. Once involved in gig work like food delivery, the instability and precariousness require individual workers to quickly "stand up" by constantly calculating, planning, arranging, and competing to earn income. Some scholars call this "excess subjectivity." Such a flexible and efficient labor mechanism indeed mobilizes a great deal of individual initiative, and at the same time, this initiative is quickly injected into the self-production and self-expansion of capital.

关于外卖平台的劳动未来，我与大部分置身其中的骑手一样，无从知晓。有时候，我会觉得外卖经济就像一个大熔炉，吸引了千千万万劳动者投身其中。这些劳动者就像是一根根柴火，他们被投入到熔炉中燃烧自己，可能有一天，他们会被高强度、高压力的工作过分消耗而不得不退出。熔炉一直在燃烧，而个体劳动者却换了一批又一批。
Regarding the future of labor on food delivery platforms, I, like most of the riders involved, have no idea. Sometimes, I feel that the food delivery economy is like a big furnace, attracting millions of workers to join. These workers are like pieces of firewood, thrown into the furnace to burn themselves. One day, they may be excessively consumed by the high-intensity, high-pressure work and have to quit. The furnace keeps burning, while individual workers are replaced one batch after another.

控制之外，劳动者的书写 Beyond control, the writing of workers

控制是劳动过程中的基本问题。传统的劳动控制理论认为，资本家需要拥有对劳动者的控制权。无论在工厂手工业还是机器大生产时代，劳动过程理论都围绕着资本如何保证劳动者在固定时间里认真、高效地完成任务而展开。对于人的肉身的、在地性的控制成为劳动过程理论展开讨论的基础。布雷弗曼（Harry Braverman）对工厂标准化管理以及流水线生产的研究、布洛维（Michael Burawoy）对工厂政体下“制造同意”与“赶工游戏”的研究，以及诸多对富士康工厂的劳工研究等，都细致、深入地阐释了资本想要控制劳动者所做的尝试。
Control is a fundamental issue in the labor process. Traditional labor control theory holds that capitalists need to have control over workers. Whether in the era of artisanal workshops or large-scale machine production, labor process theory revolves around how capital ensures that workers complete tasks seriously and efficiently within a fixed time. The control of the physical and localized aspects of people becomes the basis for the discussion of labor process theory. Harry Braverman's research on standardized management and assembly line production in factories, Michael Burawoy's research on "manufacturing consent" and "making out games" under factory regimes, and numerous labor studies on Foxconn factories, all meticulously and deeply explain the attempts of capital to control workers.

布雷弗曼著《劳动与垄断资本》 "Labor and Monopoly Capital" by Harry Braverman

布洛维著《制造同意——垄断资本主义劳动过程的变迁》
Burawoy's "Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process under Monopoly Capitalism"

但是，在平台经济的语境下，资本的运行逻辑正在发生显著的变化——它的控制对象由“劳动者”本身变成了“劳动”。平台资本对“劳动者”是谁变的并不在乎，重要的是，这些人在特定时间、特定地点出现并能够按照平台的要求贡献自身的劳动力。换句话说，由谁来干这个工作不重要，重要的是完成这个工作。互联网技术的发展让资本方放松了对劳动过程中身体的整体性控制，取而代之的是一种点状连接式的远程控制。这样的管理方式形塑了低门槛的特点，也使超大规模的零工就业成为可能。
However, in the context of the platform economy, the operational logic of capital is undergoing significant changes—it is shifting its control focus from "workers" themselves to "labor." Platform capital does not care who the "workers" are; what matters is that these people appear at specific times and places and can contribute their labor according to the platform's requirements. In other words, who does the work is not important; what is important is that the work gets done. The development of internet technology has allowed capital to relax its overall control over the physical labor process, replacing it with a point-to-point remote control. This management style has shaped the characteristic of low entry barriers and made large-scale gig employment possible.

在此，劳动生产方式发生了巨大变化。资本对劳动过程的控制出现了有趣的二律背反，变得既精细，又广泛。对广大的外卖骑手来说，他们的“工厂”从固定、封闭的场所被搬到了大街小巷，他们获得了流动、穿梭的自由；但与此同时，他们也不得不服从算法与站长随时抛来的指令，严格按照指令执行劳动。有订单时工作，无订单时休息，上一秒骑手还在马路边与工友抽烟吹牛，下一秒就要跨上电动车跑往餐厅；前一小时骑手还在家里补觉，下一小时就被站长要求穿上雨衣出来抢救超时订单……劳动场景与生活场景越来越密切地结合在一起，劳动日常即生活日常，我们难以分清它们的边界。
Here, the mode of labor production has undergone a significant transformation. Capital's control over the labor process has shown an interesting paradox, becoming both meticulous and extensive. For the vast number of food delivery riders, their "factory" has moved from fixed, enclosed spaces to the streets and alleys, granting them the freedom to move and shuttle around. However, at the same time, they must obey the instructions from algorithms and station managers at any moment, strictly following the orders to perform their labor. They work when there are orders and rest when there are none. One moment, a rider might be smoking and chatting with colleagues by the roadside, and the next moment, they have to hop on their e-bike and rush to a restaurant. One hour, a rider might be catching up on sleep at home, and the next hour, they are required by the station manager to put on a raincoat and rescue overdue orders. The boundaries between labor scenes and life scenes are becoming increasingly intertwined; labor daily life is life daily life, making it difficult for us to distinguish between them.

我隐约感受到，这既是一个关于控制的问题，又超越了控制本身。在过去的一个多世纪里，欧洲逐渐形成了劳动罢工和权益争取的传统，这使集体的、组织化的协商成为可能。但是，在零工经济的语境下，劳动者不再是一个有机的、有共同利益追求的整体。大家来自五湖四海，并不居住在同一社区，没有共同从事生产工作的固定场所，也很少有关于集体的回忆，更别说自我的身份认同。平台的零工劳动者成为新的不稳定阶层——这是我们重新看见和思考平台劳动时不得不承认和面对的问题。同样，外卖骑手也是如此，虽然劳动控制的问题在他们的劳动过程中十分重要，但是单一的“控制-反抗”的分析逻辑不能完全适用于对这群人的分析，也不足以阐释为什么他们形塑了一种“过渡劳动”的状态。在控制的问题之外，似乎有一个更加宏大的、关于劳动形式和意义变化的时代之问，等着我们去解答。
I vaguely feel that this is not only a matter of control but also transcends control itself. Over the past century, Europe has gradually formed a tradition of labor strikes and rights advocacy, making collective, organized negotiations possible. However, in the context of the gig economy, workers are no longer an organic whole with common interests. They come from all over the place, do not live in the same community, do not have a fixed place for collective production work, and rarely have memories of collective experiences, let alone self-identity. Platform gig workers have become a new unstable class—this is an issue we must acknowledge and face when re-examining and thinking about platform labor. Similarly, food delivery riders are no exception. Although the issue of labor control is very important in their labor process, the single "control-resistance" analytical framework is not entirely applicable to analyzing this group, nor is it sufficient to explain why they have shaped a "transitional labor" state. Beyond the issue of control, there seems to be a grander question about the changes in the form and meaning of labor in this era, waiting for us to answer.

传统的劳动控制研究虽然有着极其丰富的理论积淀，却也存在诸多研究盲点。例如“控制-反抗”的框架让我们只见劳动不见生活，但零工劳动者与工业化大生产时代的工人全然不同，他们工作的时间、空间都发生了变化。这需要我们重新思考后疫情时代下全球零工劳动的意涵。与此同时，新技术的结构性力量同样不能忽视，它正在全面重塑劳资关系，这种新的技术力量所形塑的劳动政治不再是简单地提高生产率、增强控制性，它冲击了社会主要劳动群体的工作伦理和对工作的想象，它给农村和处于不利社会地位的女性带来了新的可能，它引发了对劳动与数据关系的新思考，它带来了一个重新讨论媒介技术与个体选择的场域。
Traditional labor control research, despite its extremely rich theoretical accumulation, also has many research blind spots. For example, the "control-resistance" framework makes us see only labor and not life, but gig workers are entirely different from workers in the era of industrial mass production; their working time and space have changed. This requires us to rethink the implications of global gig labor in the post-pandemic era. At the same time, the structural power of new technology cannot be ignored; it is comprehensively reshaping labor-capital relations. The labor politics shaped by this new technological power is no longer simply about increasing productivity and enhancing control; it impacts the work ethics and imaginations of the main labor groups in society. It brings new possibilities to rural areas and socially disadvantaged women, prompts new thinking about the relationship between labor and data, and opens up a field for re-discussing media technology and individual choices.

因此，我希望跳出单一的控制框架来描述数字平台的零工劳动，看到个体生命历程与劳动间充满张力的互动，听到零工劳动者的叙事与倾诉，捕捉到关于平台劳动理论与现实对话的枝叶漫展、游离纵横。这当然不是说全然不谈控制，而是希望将它作为其中的一部分，与更广阔的劳动生活世界并行分析。我希望这是一部关于劳动者的书写，而不是关于控制的申诉。
Therefore, I hope to step out of the single control framework to describe gig work on digital platforms, to see the tension-filled interaction between individual life trajectories and labor, to hear the narratives and confessions of gig workers, and to capture the sprawling and meandering dialogue between platform labor theory and reality. This is not to say that control is entirely ignored, but rather to analyze it as part of a broader labor life world. I hope this is a writing about workers, not a complaint about control.

田野是江湖，现场有神灵 The field is a world of its own, and the site has its own spirits.

《过渡劳动》的田野数据来自我自2017年5月起对外卖员的持续观察。其间，我所在的调查小组以访谈、田野观察、问卷、跟跑单等形式参与对外卖产业尤其是外卖骑手的观察。问卷调查地点以北京地区为主，在2018年到2023年六年间连续发放。访谈则伴随田野调查，每年不间断进行。截止到2024年3月，我访谈了两百余位骑手，其中包括三十余位女骑手，也包括二十余位站长、调度、骑手小组长等。
The field data for "Transitional Labor" comes from my continuous observation of food delivery workers since May 2017. During this period, my research team participated in observing the food delivery industry, especially the delivery riders, through interviews, field observations, questionnaires, and shadowing deliveries. The questionnaire surveys were primarily conducted in the Beijing area and were distributed continuously over six years from 2018 to 2023. Interviews accompanied the field surveys and were conducted annually without interruption. By March 2024, I had interviewed over two hundred riders, including more than thirty female riders, as well as over twenty station managers, dispatchers, and rider team leaders.

送外卖是一项太过生动的数字劳动，每天奔跑在街头巷尾的骑手会让我产生一种数据唾手可得的乐观。可实际情况是，在街上“捕捉”骑手并不容易。他们像池塘里游来游去的小鱼和虾，极易受到惊吓。静止的时候你扑上去，他们会立马躲开或逃跑。有一次，我和几个同学一道去陕西渭南调研。在一家肯德基店里，我们发现了几个正在玩手机等餐的骑手。一个同学跑上前去询问其中一个骑手是否愿意接受我们的采访。可能是同学说得太正式，那个骑手连连拒绝，甚至吓得跌倒在地，爬起来之后立马跑了出去。在一次次被拒绝的尝试中，我与调研小组的同学们不断地学习、摸索“打开”这群人的方式，逐渐有了经验。多次拒绝让我开始变得厚脸皮、自来熟，有时我觉得自己像一个打足了鸡血的销售冠军，即便被拒绝也可以笑嘻嘻地站在那里，淡定且从容，继续等待“捕捉”下一个骑手。
Delivering food is a highly dynamic digital labor. Seeing riders running through the streets every day gives me an optimistic feeling that data is readily available. But in reality, "capturing" riders on the street is not easy. They are like small fish and shrimp swimming in a pond, easily frightened. When they are still, if you approach them, they will immediately dodge or flee. Once, a few classmates and I went to Weinan, Shaanxi for research. In a KFC store, we found a few riders playing with their phones while waiting for their orders. One classmate went up to ask one of the riders if he was willing to be interviewed. Perhaps the classmate spoke too formally, and the rider repeatedly refused, even falling to the ground in fright, and ran out immediately after getting up. Through repeated rejections, my research team and I continuously learned and explored ways to "open up" to this group, gradually gaining experience. Multiple rejections made me thick-skinned and familiar, sometimes feeling like a highly motivated sales champion who could stand there smiling even after being rejected, calmly and patiently waiting to "capture" the next rider.

初期的田野调查以“偶遇”和“捕捉”为主，逮到愿意与我多聊的骑手就尽可能多地与他们交流。其他骑手看了，会在一旁盯着我，并不上前，看得出来他们十分好奇但又不好意思多问。随着田野时间的增加，周边骑手的戒备少了很多。一些骑手甚至开始主动打招呼：“你们又来了？这次调查什么？”慢慢地，我们与其中一些骑手变成了朋友，他们开始主动给我介绍愿意聊天的人。有的骑手知道我是学者和大学老师，研究外卖骑手，就夸赞我，说我有同情心；也有的骑手在我与调研小组的同学做田野的时候，对我们进行“再教育”，认为我们“这些大学生、老师应该落地一些，多多关注社会上的真问题而不是跟随网上的‘专家’胡说八道”。有好几次，一些爱琢磨事情的骑手反问我：“你不是研究骑手的吗？不是能帮我们吗？那为什么我们这个派单时间不但没有增加，反而越来越短？”“你做这个研究有用吗？真的有人关注我们这些人吗？”
The initial field research was mainly based on "encounters" and "captures," trying to talk as much as possible with riders willing to chat. Other riders would watch from the side, curious but too shy to ask more. As the fieldwork continued, the surrounding riders became less guarded. Some riders even started to greet us: "You're here again? What are you investigating this time?" Gradually, we became friends with some of the riders, who began to introduce us to others willing to chat. Some riders, knowing I was a scholar and university teacher researching delivery riders, praised me for my empathy; others, during our fieldwork, "re-educated" us, believing that "these students and teachers should be more grounded and focus on real societal issues rather than following the nonsense of online 'experts'." Several times, some thoughtful riders questioned me: "Aren't you researching riders? Can't you help us? Why is our dispatch time not increasing but getting shorter?" "Is your research useful? Does anyone really care about us?"

外卖田野对我来说是一个充满挑战的学习过程，我慢慢地学会了如何与大多数骑手相处。作为一名来自象牙塔的“青椒”女性，在多数骑手是男性的情况下，深入和融入他们的生活并不容易。取得信任需要时间。人是复杂的，骑手也是。他们是一群活生生的人，而不是等待被限定在特定苦难框架里的二维存在。我时而倾听，时而抉择。在田野里，我慢慢地学会了如何体验和理解这个江湖，也体会到了经验的重要性。人的经验是复杂的，它有感受、有思想。每一次的田野，都让我有所进步。有时候是我的嗅觉、触觉、听觉等感官变得更加敏锐，有时候是我理解空间、地方、流动的思维变得更加活跃。这不禁使我想到稻盛和夫所说的“现场有神灵”，也许正是这样一种美妙的体验。
The fieldwork in food delivery was a challenging learning process for me, and I gradually learned how to get along with most of the riders. As a female "young scholar" from the ivory tower, it was not easy to delve into and integrate into their lives, especially when most of the riders were male. Gaining trust takes time. People are complex, and so are the riders. They are a group of living people, not two-dimensional beings waiting to be confined within a specific framework of suffering. Sometimes I listened, sometimes I made decisions. In the field, I slowly learned how to experience and understand this world, and I also realized the importance of experience. Human experience is complex, with feelings and thoughts. Each fieldwork session made me progress. Sometimes my senses like smell, touch, and hearing became more acute, and sometimes my thinking about space, place, and flow became more active. This inevitably made me think of what Kazuo Inamori said, "There are gods in the field," perhaps it is this kind of wonderful experience.

真要说自己在此过程中最大的变化，应该是对批判变得更谦卑和谨慎。随着调查的展开，纸面上二维的知识在现实生活中变得高低不平，自己也开始反思一些高高在上、看似宏大却不着边际的学术论断。这并不是我想要的。在田野里摸爬滚打了几年，才慢慢明白，学术生产源自现实生活，回馈现实生活。这才是我的志业。
If I had to say what my biggest change was during this process, it would be becoming more humble and cautious about criticism. As the investigation progressed, the two-dimensional knowledge on paper became uneven in real life, and I began to reflect on some lofty, seemingly grand but irrelevant academic assertions. This is not what I wanted. After struggling in the field for several years, I slowly understood that academic production originates from real life and gives back to real life. This is my vocation.

图片编辑：张颖 Photo Editor: Zhang Ying

校对：张亮亮 Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang